A. Valente et al.: A compilation of global bio-optical in situ data 
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Earth Syst. Sei. Data, 8, 235-252, 2016 
Table 3. Summary of median values for aph, adg and bbp at 44A and 55X nm for each dataset (as shown in Fig. 12a-f). Data were first 
searched at 445 and 555 nm and then with a search window of up to 8 nm to include data at 547 nm. 
Median aph 
Median adg 
Median bbp 
44A nm 
55 A nm 
44A nm 
55A nm 
44A nm 
55 A nm 
SeaBASS 
0.0549 
0.0074 
0.0711 
0.0222 
0.0035 
0.0025 
MERMAID 
0.0353 
0.0046 
0.0515 
0.0112 
0.0030 
0.0022 
NOMAD 
0.0282 
0.0052 
0.1149 
0.0286 
0.0080 
0.0052 
0.1 1 — 
0.001 
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 
Chlorophyll-a concentration (mg rrr 3 ) 
NOMAD (N=2921) 
MERMAID (N=336). 
BOUSSOLE (N=9) : 
SeaBASS (N=103): 
NASA OC4 
NASA OC4E 
Figure 11. A remote-sensing reflectance maximum band ratio (as 
defined in text) ([443,490,510] / 555 or [443,490,510] / 560 if 555 
not available) as a function of chlorophyll a concentration. All 
chlorophyll data were considered, but for a given station HPLC 
data were selected if available. Data within 2nm of the wave 
lengths were used. For reference the solid and dotted line show 
the NASA OC4 and OC4E v6 standard algorithms, respectively 
(http://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/cms/atbd/chlor_a). The total num 
ber of points was 3369, of which 86% were from NOMAD. 
SeaBASS (14) and MERMAID (72). For adg the contribu 
tions are as follows: NOMAD (1079), SeaBASS (11) and 
MERMAID (33). The bbp observations come from NO 
MAD (371), SeaBASS (32) and MERMAID (235). Data 
distribution of aph, adg and bbp at 44X and 55 A nm 
for each dataset is provided in Fig. 12a-f. Median val 
ues of aph, adg and bbp at 44X and 55 A nm for each 
dataset are summarised in Table 3. For additional analy 
sis, the following band ratios for the absorption coefficients 
were calculated: aph(490) / aph(443), aph(412) / aph(443), 
adg(443) / adg(490) and adg(412) / adg(443). Data within 
2 nm of the wavelengths were used to maximise the number 
of points. The distribution of the ratios is shown in Fig. 13. 
Several observations were found to be above the thresh 
olds used in the IOCCG report 5 (IOCCG, 2006) for qual 
ity control (see dotted vertical black lines in Fig. 13). These 
points are highlighted here for information but retained in the 
database, as these were mostly from NOMAD and there was 
an interest to preserve this dataset as a whole. Also, not dis 
carding this data allows further manipulation with different 
(a) 
SeaBASS 
NOMAD 
MERMAID 
•i—CUR 
-HD—L * 
(c) 
SeaBASS 
NOMAD 
MERMAID 
10' 4 10' a 10 10' 1 10 u 10' 
aph (44X nm) (m ) 
i—Qd 
10' 
(e) г 
SeaBASS 
NOMAD 
MERMAID 
10" 
10' 4 10' 3 10' 2 10' 1 , 10° 10 1 
adg (44 X nm) (m' 1 ) 
"[jjHD$ I"H iff 31 
ÍHHJ\f H Г;" 359 
ÎÎT"0-H""H Hr 33 
10' 4 10' 3 10' 2 10' 1 , 10° 10 1 
bbp (44 X nm) (m' 1 ) 
(g) 
НШ-ii 
10'“ 10 10 u 10' 
kd (44X nm) (m ') 
(b) j ; 
SeaBASS jj Hi N4: ; 13 
NOMAD ;rH—l I I : /!'■ " •>"; : M172 
MERMAID : ; -4 : [l J—“ : : 72 
10- 5 10' 4 10' 3 10' 2 10' 1 10° 10 1 
aph (55X nm) (rrf ) 
(d) 
SeaBASS HT I H : 10 
NOMAD T'H—!■ ::IJ NH H—j K 1070 
MERMAID - : i ■■ f}f ; 1 33 
10' 5 10' 4 10' 3 10' 2 10' 1 10° 10 1 
adg (55X nm) (m' 1 ) 
(f) 
SeaBASS - HD+ - - 31 
NOMAD - ■■ • - 359 
MERMAID h-!'- CH ■ - 33 
10' 5 10' 4 10' 3 10' 2 10' 1 .10° 10 1 
bbp (55X nm) (m j 
(h) 
NOMAD 4[]] 1—" 1955 
MERMAID 4]) f= 69 
10 3 10 2 10' 1 10° 10 1 
kd (55X nm) (m ] ) 
Figure 12. The distribution of (a) aph at 44A nm, (b) aph at 
55 A nm, (c) adg at 44A nm, (d) adg at 55 A nm, (e) bbp at 44A nm, 
(f) bbp at 55A nm, (g) kd at 44A nm and (h) kd at 55 A nm. Data 
were first searched at 445 and 555 nm and then with a search win 
dow of up to 8 nm to include data at 547 nm. The graphical conven 
tion is identical to Fig. 2. 
quality control criteria. On the annual scale, the observations 
of the inherent optical properties are strongly underrepre 
sented in the Southern Hemisphere where there is a complete 
absence of data in several months of the year (Fig. 3). Over 
all, the geographic coverage for observations of aph, adg and 
bbp (Fig. 14) is poor, with most open-ocean regions not be 
ing sampled, with the exception of the Atlantic Ocean. Small 
clusters of data are located in particular coastal regions. 
Finally, for the diffuse attenuation coefficient for down 
ward irradiance (kd), there are 25 unique wavelengths be 
tween 405 and 709 nm. There are a total of 2454 obser-