St. Lawrence Gulf Bio-Optical Properties from SeaWiFS Program

Bio-optical properties of the different water masses in the Gulf of St. Lawrence were collected by a NASA SeaWiFS program starting in 1997. This dataset supports the measurement of chlorophyll concentration via ocean color remote sensing, which is critical for understanding the ecosystem's food web from phytoplankton to whales. The data is hosted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Use Cases

• Calibrating and validating ocean color remote sensing algorithms for chlorophyll-a retrieval.
• Analyzing spatial and temporal patterns of bio-optical properties across different water masses.
• Studying the relationship between physical forces (runoff, winds, tides) and ocean optics.
• Supporting ecosystem models that require chlorophyll concentration as an input variable.

Strengths

• Data collection began in 1997, providing a multi-year baseline for analysis.
• Program was specifically designed to gather knowledge essential for utilizing ocean color imagery in the large St. Lawrence ecosystem.
• Dataset is associated with NASA, indicating a standardized collection methodology.

Limitations

• Specific row count, file size, and complete column schema are unavailable across all platforms.
• License is specified as 'other-license-specified' on one platform but is 'None' on another, creating a conflict.
• The most recent update date (2026-03-13) appears to be a future date, which is anomalous and suggests a metadata error.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Remote sensing via the SeaWiFS program, utilizing ocean color imagery.

Time Range

From 1997 onward.

Freshness

2026-03-13 10:30:44.365924

Geography

Gulf of St. Lawrence