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Datasets / Australian Ocean Data Network (AODN)

Satellite Remote Sensing - Satellite Contributed Ocean Colour - MODIS - Aqua Chlorophyll Concentration in the Southern Ocean: Weekly, Johnson et al 2013

Phytoplankton biomass and diversityOcean colour

The Aqua and Orbview satellites carry a MODIS and SeaWIFS sensors (respectively) that observes sunlight reflected from within the ocean surface layer at multiple wavelengths. These multi-spectral measurements are used to infer the concentration of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), most typically due to phytoplankton, present in the water.

There are multiple retrieval algorithms for estimating Chl-a and aggregating the data over time. This data set is a reprocessed copy of 9km monthly and 8-day versions produced globally by NASA, adjusted for the Southern Ocean south of latitude 30S. The full methodology is described in Johnson, R., Strutton, P.G., Wright, S.W., McMinn, A., Meiners, K.M., 2013. Three improved satellite chlorophyll algorithms for the Southern Ocean. Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. doi: 10.1002/jgrc.20270. It is expected that the data set will be periodically updated with contemporary data as it becomes available.

There are four sub-streams within this data set. A monthly and an 8-day series for MODIS/Aqua and similarly for SeaWIFS. Note that SeaWIFS ceased operation in late 2010 so there will be no further SeaWIFS data.

The data represented by this record is weekly data for MODIS/Aqua.

Data and resources

Additional information

Temporal extent2002-07-04 – 2012-12-26
Date (creation)2014-04-10
StatusonGoing
Update frequencyasNeeded
Metadata languageen
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution 4.0
Source metadataISO 19115 XML
Last updated2026-11-05
Created2026-11-05
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