The ESA Ocean Colour CCI project has produced global level 3 binned multi-sensor time-series of satellite ocean-colour data with a particular focus for use in climate studies.

This dataset contains their Version 4.2 inherent optical properties (IOP) product (in mg/m3) on a geographic projection at approximately 4 km spatial resolution and at a number of time resolutions (daily, 5-day, 8-day and monthly composites). Note, this the IOP data is also included in the 'All Products' dataset.

The inherent optical properties (IOP) dataset consists of the total absorption and particle backscattering coefficients, and, additionally, the fraction of detrital & dissolved organic matter absorption and phytoplankton absorption. The total absorption (units m-1), the total backscattering (m-1), the absorption by detrital and coloured dissolved organic matter, the backscattering by particulate matter, and the absorption by phytoplankton share the same spatial resolution of ~4 km. The values of IOP are reported for the standard SeaWiFS wavelengths (412, 443, 490, 510, 555, 670nm).

This data product is on a geographic grid projection, which is a direct conversion of latitude and longitude coordinates to a rectangular grid, typically a fixed multiplier of 360x180. The netCDF files follow the CF convention for this projection with a resolution of 8640x4320. (A separate dataset is also available for data on a sinusoidal projection.)

Please note, this dataset has been superseded. Later versions of the data are now available.