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Data Processing Notes

VIIRS Near-Real-Time (NRT) products are produced from original IDPS SDR and ancillary data from the Global Forecast System (GFS) model.
VIIRS Science-Quality (SCI) products are produced from recalibrated Ocean Color SDR (OC-SDR) and science quality (reanalysis) ancillary data from the Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) model.
The current data processing versions are NRT_IDPS_V1.89 (forwarding since January 1, 2025) for NRT and SCI_OC04.0_V1.89 (reprocessed in April 2025 and forwarding) for SCI products, respectively. The MSL12 is currently v1.89 and SCI OC SDR is v4.0 Wang and Jiang (2025).
VIIRS NRT products before Feb. 6, 2012 are not reliable or usable due to VIIRS instrument calibration error in IDPS SDR.
The VIIRS K_d(490) data are derived using Wang et al. (2009) algorithm and K_d(PAR) using Son and Wang (2015) algorithm.
VIIRS chlorophyll-a, K_d(490), K_d(PAR) and nL_w(λ) products are post-processed to remove striping as described in Mikelsons et al. (2014). The destriping software can be downloaded here.
Experimental Products: The VIIRS PAR (SCI only) algorithm was provided by Robert Frouin and implemented in MSL12 by STAR Ocean Color Research Team; The VIIRS IOP products are derived using a blended Quasi-Analytical Algorithm (QAA) described in Shi and Wang (2019); The VIIRS OCI Chl-a product is derived using Wang and Son (2016); The VIIRS QA score is derived based on Wei et al. (2016).
User Specific Products (SCI only): The VIIRS Chl-a anomaly was calculated using the 61-day median Chl-a following Stumpf et al. (2003), and we have also added Chl-a anomaly ratio (Chl-a anomaly/61-day median Chl-a).