Deriving consistent ocean biological and biogeochemical products from multiple satellite ocean color sensors.

A methodology is developed for deriving consistent ocean biological and biogeochemical products from multiple satellite ocean color sensors that have slightly different sensor spectral characteristics. Specifically, the required coefficients for algorithm modifications are obtained using the hyperspectral in situ optical measurements from the Marine Optical Buoy (MOBY) in the water off Hawaii. It is demonstrated that using the proposed approach for modifying ocean biological and biogeochemical algorithms, satellite-derived ocean property data over the global open ocean are consistent from multiple satellite sensors, although their corresponding sensor-measured normalized water-leaving radiance spectra nLw(λ) are different. Therefore, the proposed approach allows satellite-derived ocean biological and biogeochemical products to be consistent and can therefore be routinely merged from various satellite ocean color sensors. The proposed approach can be applied to any satellite algorithms that use the input of sensor-measured nLw(λ) spectra.