Processing and Distribution of Hyperspectral Radiometer Data from Ships of Opportunity for Monitoring Phytoplankton in the Ocean

Ocean-colour sensors mounted on satellites can view the entire ocean over a period of a few days. However, to calibrate these sensors and validate the data, satellite observations must be compared with accurate and reliable in situ measurements, collected at the ocean surface. There are many regions of the ocean where these in situ measurements are rarely collected. Ocean-colour sensors can be mounted on research vessels and ships of opportunity. In this project, an ocean-colour sensor (Seabird HyperSAS Solar Tracker) was mounted on a yacht that visits remote regions of the planet where few observations have been collected. This project aims to process this data to a level for use by the scientific community for scientific applications, such as satellite validation.