Global satellite-based estimates of photosynthetically available radiation (PAR) at the ocean surface, quantifying usable light energy in the 400–700 nm range. The data suite provides daily and instantaneous PAR values, expressed in moles of photons per square meter, from NASA's Terra MODIS instrument. These products are produced by OB_CLOUD and are part of the 2022.0 version of the near real-time (NRT) data.
Use Cases
- Estimating marine primary production based on daily PAR values.
- Interpreting phytoplankton bloom dynamics based on light availability data.
- Providing context for optical and biogeochemical measurements based on PAR estimates.
- Supporting ecosystem models that require light energy inputs.
- Educating on light–biology interactions in marine environments.
Strengths
- Provides estimates for a specific, biologically relevant light range (400–700 nm).
- Includes both daily (par) and instantaneous (ipar) radiation variables.
- Data is processed at Level-3, indicating a global, binned, aggregated product.
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 satellite sensor coverage.
Provenance
- Source
- NASA Earthdata via OB_CLOUD.
- Collection Method
- Satellite-based estimates from the Terra MODIS instrument.
- Freshness
- Near real-time (NRT) data.
- Geography
- Global ocean surface.