Sentinel-3A OLCI: Global Ocean Color Apparent Visible Wavelength Data

Global satellite-derived ocean color data from the Sentinel-3A OLCI instrument. The dataset provides the Apparent Visible Wavelength (AVW), a metric summarizing the spectral shape of water-leaving reflectance, reported in nanometers. This Level-4 binned product, version 2022.0, is hosted on NASA EarthData and was developed to address Earth observation needs identified by the U.S. Satellite Needs Working Group.

Use Cases

• Water-type classification based on the apparent visible wavelength (AVW) metric.
• Algorithm selection and blending for chlorophyll retrievals based on AVW values.
• Regional change detection in ocean color properties based on spectral summaries.
• Providing context alongside chlorophyll-a, diffuse attenuation, and PAR measurements based on the description.

Strengths

• Provides a specific geophysical variable (Apparent Visible Wavelength) derived from satellite observations.
• Data is a Level-4 binned product, suggesting processed and aggregated information.
• Dataset version (2022.0) is specified, indicating a defined release.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic or temporal bias inherent to nasa_earthdata.

Provenance

Source

OB_CLOUD

Collection Method

Satellite observation from the Sentinel-3A OLCI instrument.

Geography

Global