Sentinel-3B OLCI Level-4 Global Mapped Phytoplankton Carbon Data

Phytoplankton carbon concentration data derived from NASA ocean-color satellite observations. The dataset is a Level-4 global mapped product, version 2022.0, produced by the organization OB_CLOUD and informed by the U.S. Government's Satellite Needs Working Group.

Use Cases

• Quantifying ocean biomass and carbon stocks based on phytoplankton carbon concentration.
• Assessing marine ecosystem productivity and change over time using the derived geophysical variable.
• Driving and validating biogeochemical models with satellite-based carbon_phyto data.
• Providing biological context alongside other environmental variables like chlorophyll, PAR, and SST.

Strengths

• Data is derived from NASA ocean-color observations, a trusted source for satellite remote sensing.
• Product is a Level-4 global mapped dataset, indicating processed and gridded geospatial coverage.
• Development was informed by an interagency U.S. Government working group dedicated to Earth observation needs.

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

NASA ocean-color observations processed by OB_CLOUD.

Collection Method

Derived from Sentinel-3B OLCI satellite sensor data.

Geography

Global