NOAA_NCEI provides a personal geodatabase containing raster images of chlorophyll concentrations in the Gulf of Maine. The dataset is a composite of satellite-derived data from 1997 to 2005, processed into seasonal and monthly mean or median images. Images have been reprocessed to remove land and no-data values, with chlorophyll values expressed in micrograms per liter.
Use Cases
- Analyze spatial patterns of chlorophyll-a concentration across the Gulf of Maine using the geotiff raster values.
- Model seasonal phytoplankton blooms by comparing the grand mean images for Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.
- Validate satellite ocean color algorithms by comparing the processed monthly mean images (e.g., Grand Monthly Mean for January) against in-situ measurements.
- Study long-term trends in marine primary productivity from the 1997-2005 composite time series.
Strengths
- Multi-year composite covering 9 years (1997-2005) of data.
- Data processed into both seasonal and monthly aggregated means/medians for temporal analysis.
- Values represent real-world chlorophyll concentration in micrograms per liter, with land and no-data values removed.
Limitations
- Dataset is temporally stale, with the last update in 2005 and no recent observations.
- Specific sample size (row/column count) and spatial resolution of the raster images are unknown.
- Geographic coverage is limited solely to the Gulf of Maine region.
Provenance
- Source
- NOAA_NCEI via NASA Earthdata platform.
- Collection Method
- Satellite-derived chlorophyll concentration data aggregated and processed into mean/median raster composites.
- Time Range
- 1997 to 2005
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- Gulf of Maine