Study of the Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) aerosol optical property data over ocean in combination with the ocean color products

The primary goals of the Sea- Viewing Wide Field- of- View Sensor ( SeaWiFS) are to routinely provide the global ocean color and ocean bio- optical property data. In retrieving the ocean near- surface signals from SeaWiFS- measured radiances, however, the aerosol effects must be accurately estimated and removed. Therefore SeaWiFS also produces the aerosol optical property data ( in particular, the aerosol optical thickness and Angstromngstrom exponent) over global ocean. Since September of 1997, SeaWiFS has generated both global aerosol ( over ocean) and ocean color data for more than 6.5 years and is still in producing these products with very good sensor performance. This makes SeaWiFS the longest in history for providing simultaneously the global aerosol and ocean color products. In this paper we describe the SeaWiFS aerosol products over ocean in combination with the ocean color data. We assert through various examples that, because SeaWiFS simultaneously retrieves both atmospheric and ocean color data, the SeaWiFS products are useful to study aerosol and ocean variations in climatic forcing, biogeochemical cycling, and radiative effects in the global and regional scales.