VIIRS Operational Ocean Color Products from the NOAA Okeanos Operational Production System

The NOAA Okeanos system has been providing a series of high quality ocean color operational products in near-real time (NRT) mode from a series of satellite observations such as Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) and NOAA20. The ocean color sensor aboard these satellites is the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS). The operational products generated from S-NPP and NOAA20 VIIRS Ocean Color data include chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), chlorophyll-a fronts (Chl-a fronts), remote sensing reflectance (Rrs), water attenuation coefficient (Kd), the diffuse attenuation coefficient for photosynthetically active radiation (KdPAR), and true color. These products are generated in collaboration with the NOAA/NESDIS/STAR Ocean Color Group and NOAA/NESDIS/STAR CoastWatch Group. An overview on the Okeanos products is given here, and a detailed description of the products (category, coverage, resolution, filename convention format, and file format) is given here. The products have been beneficial in assessing water quality and tracking potentially harmful algal blooms in order to protect public health. For example, the chlorophyll concentration product has been used to understand and predict the harmful algal blooms in the Gulf of Mexico by the NOAA Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS).