The Ocean Color (OC) data suite provides calibrated atmospherically corrected ocean-optics measurements and derived biogeophysical products. This data suite includes the Apparent Optical Properties (AOP) and provides satellite-derived measures of the interaction between solar radiation and the upper ocean. AOPs are “apparent” because they depend not only on the inherent optical properties (IOPs) of seawater and its constituents but also on the ambient light field. These variables are critical for studying light penetration, primary productivity, and biogeochemical cycling.

Geophysical variables in this suite include:
• Rrs_λ — Remote sensing reflectance at wavelength λ (sr⁻¹)
• chlor_a — Chlorophyll-a concentration (mg m⁻³)
• Kd_490 — Diffuse attenuation coefficient at 490 nm (m⁻¹)
• nflh — Normalized Fluorescence Line Height (W m⁻² μm⁻¹ sr⁻¹)
• l2_flags — Level-2 processing flags (bitmask; see per-variable attributes for flag_masks and flag_meanings)
• angstrom — Aerosol Ångström exponentgn 443–865 nm (unitless)
• aot_869 — Aerosol optical thickness at 869 nm (unitless)

Some missions may also include:
• PIC — Particulate inorganic carbon (typically mmol m⁻³)
• POC — Particulate organic carbon (mg m⁻³)
• PAR — Photosynthetically available radiation (mol photons m⁻² d⁻¹)
• iPAR — Instantaneous photosynthetically available radiation (mol photons m⁻² s⁻¹)