Over the past three decades, the oceanography community has seen an astounding development in ocean color remote sensing capabilities. For the first time, a climate quality data record can be compiled to demonstrate the strong link between inter-seasonal climate variability and the marine biosphere during the El Nino to La Nina transition on ocean basin scales. Ocean color data are now used by a very broad user community from research to resource management applications. Because the continuity of satellite ocean color data is presently at significant risk for the U.S. ocean color community, performance of future observing systems must be considered in the context of the full range of research and operational/application user needs to determine options to meet these needs on a sustained basis.
This study aims to develop a consensus for the requirements that meet a broad range of user needs and identify options to sustain long-term global ocean color radiance (OCR) from space.
Broader Impacts
This study will further advance the public?s understanding of the value of satellite observations by developing a consensus about the importance of synoptic biological oceanographic observations for the stewardship of the marine environment as well as for monitoring and predicting climate change. The study will engage and communicate to a broad range of stakeholders in the user community and policy makers, nationally and internationally.
