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Full catalog/PACE_OCI_L3B_CHL
PACE_OCI_L3B_CHL·v3.1·dataset

Tiny ocean plants (chlorophyll) (PACE)

PACE OCI Level-3 Global Binned Chlorophyll (CHL) Data, version 3.1
ocean NASA OB_CLOUD Level 3 active netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. Maps how much chlorophyll-a is in surface seawater, which stands in for how many tiny floating plants (phytoplankton) are present. It is provided as global gridded snapshots in milligrams per cubic meter.

How it's made. Built from the Ocean Color Instrument on NASA's PACE satellite, processed into binned, gridded composites that average many observations together.

How & where you'd use it. Helps track ocean ecosystems and fisheries, spot blooms and unusual changes over time, and build long-term records. Readings can be less certain in murky coastal or inland waters.

What's measured

Oceans › Ocean Optics › Chlorophyll › Chlorophyll ConcentrationBIOSPHERE › VEGETATION › CHLOROPHYLLOCEANS › OCEAN CHEMISTRY › CHLOROPHYLLOCEANS › OCEAN CHEMISTRY › PIGMENTS › CHLOROPHYLLTERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE › WATER QUALITY/WATER CHEMISTRY › WATER CHARACTERISTICS › CHLOROPHYLL CONCENTRATIONSBIOSPHERE › ECOSYSTEMS › AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS › PLANKTON › PHYTOPLANKTON

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2024-03-05 → ongoing
  • Measured byPACE (OCI)
  • Processing levelLevel 3
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsnetCDF-4
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Watch sea-surface temperature and marine heatwaves
  • Spot algal blooms and ocean-colour shifts
  • Support fisheries and coastal monitoring
Official description

The Chlorophyll-a data suite provides global, gridded composites of surface chlorophyll-a concentration (a proxy for phytoplankton biomass). CHL supports time-series and climatologies, anomaly detection, ecosystem and fisheries applications, and teaching/training, and pairs well with AVW, PAR, Kd(490), SST, and winds for environmental context. Note: retrievals in optically complex coastal/inland waters may carry higher uncertainty—refer to the mission/algorithm documentation (e.g., OCx/OCI) for details. Geophysical variables in this suite include: - chlor_a — Chlorophyll-a concentration (mg m⁻³)

Get the data

pace_oci_l3b_chl_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="PACE_OCI_L3B_CHL",
    version="3.1",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from OB_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.