Earth Data School
About
Full catalog/PACE_OCI_L3B_IOP
PACE_OCI_L3B_IOP·v3.1·dataset

How ocean water absorbs and scatters light worldwide (PACE)

PACE OCI Level-3 Global Binned Ocean Color Inherent Optical Properties (OC_IOP) Data, version 3.1
ocean NASA OB_CLOUD Level 3 active netCDF-4
In plain English

What it measures. Global maps of how ocean water absorbs and scatters light, broken into contributions from the water itself, phytoplankton, and dissolved or floating material. These optical properties describe the water independent of sun angle or viewing direction.

How it's made. Derived from the OCI instrument on NASA's PACE satellite by feeding its color measurements through an optical model, then binned into a global product.

How & where you'd use it. Helps scientists classify water types, gauge water clarity, study ocean life and chemistry, and compare results across different satellites.

What's measured

OCEANS › OCEAN OPTICS › ABSORPTIONOCEANS › OCEAN OPTICS › ATTENUATION/TRANSMISSIONOCEANS › OCEAN OPTICS › GELBSTOFFOCEANS › OCEAN OPTICS › REFLECTANCEOCEANS › OCEAN OPTICS › SCATTERINGBIOSPHERE › ECOSYSTEMS › AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS › PLANKTON › PHYTOPLANKTONTERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE › WATER QUALITY/WATER CHEMISTRY › WATER CHARACTERISTICS › ORGANIC MATTERTERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE › WATER QUALITY/WATER CHEMISTRY › WATER CHARACTERISTICS › LIGHT TRANSMISSIONEARTH SCIENCE SERVICES › ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORIES › HYDROLOGICAL ADVISORIES › WATER QUALITYTERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE › SURFACE WATER

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 Inherent Optical Properties (IOP) suite provides per-pixel inherent optical properties - quantities that describe how seawater and its constituents absorb and scatter light, independent of illumination or viewing geometry. IOPs are retrieved from spectral Remote Sensing Reflectance (Rrs) using the default configuration of the Generalized Inherent Optical Properties (GIOP) model framework. These products support water-type classification, water-clarity assessment, biogeochemical studies, and forward/adjoint radiative-transfer applications, and they enable more robust cross-sensor comparisons than purely apparent (AOP) products. The hyperspctral band list is found in the science data file metadata. Geophysical variables in this suite include: - Kd - Diffuse attenuation coefficient of downwelling irradiance (m^-1) - a - Total absorption coefficient (sum of pure water + phytoplankton + CDOM/detritus, m^-1) - bb - Total backscattering coefficient (m^-1) - aph - Phytoplankton absorption coefficient (m^-1) - aph_unc_442 - Uncertainty in absorption due to phytoplankton at 442 nm (m^-1) - adg_442 - Combined CDOM + non-algal detritus absorption coefficient at 442nm (m^-1) - adg_unc_442 - Uncertainty in absorption due to gelbstoff and detrital material at 442 nm (m^-1) - bbp_442 - Particulate backscattering coefficient at 442nm (m^-1) - bbp_unc_442 - Uncertainty in particulate backscattering at 442 nm (m^-1) - rrsdiff - Fractional mean Rrs difference (reconstructed from inverted IOPs - input) (unitless)

Get the data

pace_oci_l3b_iop_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="PACE_OCI_L3B_IOP",
    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.