Ocean color measured from satellites provides daily global, synoptic views of spectral waterleaving reflectances that can be used to generate estimates of marine inherent optical properties (IOPs). These reflectances, namely the ratio of spectral upwelled radiances to spectral downwelled irradiances, describe the light exiting a water mass that defines its color. IOPs are the spectral absorption and scattering characteristics of ocean water and its dissolved and particulate constituents. Because of their dependence on the concentration and composition of marine constituents, IOPs can be used to describe the contents of the upper ocean mixed layer. This information is critical to further our scientific understanding of biogeochemical oceanic processes, such as organic carbon production and export, phytoplankton dynamics, and responses to climatic disturbances. Given their importance, the international ocean color community has invested significant effort in improving the quality of satellite-derived IOP products, both regionally and globally. Recognizing the current influx of data products into the community and the need to improve current algorithms in anticipation of new satellite instruments (e.g., the global, hyperspectral spectroradiometer of the NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission), we present a synopsis of the current state of the art in the retrieval of these core optical properties. Contemporary approaches for obtaining IOPs from satellite ocean color are reviewed and, for clarity, separated based their inversion methodology or the type of IOPs sought. Summaries of known uncertainties associated with each approach are provided, as well as common performance metrics used to evaluate them. We discuss current knowledge gaps and make recommendations for future investment for upcoming missions whose instrument characteristics diverge sufficiently from heritage and existing sensors to warrant reassessing current approaches.

A theoretical model was developed estimating the scattering by seawater that are due to concentration fluctuation. Combining with the model proposed for density fluctuation (Optics Express, 17, 1671, 2009), we evaluated the overall effect of sea salts on the scattering. The variation of seawater scattering with the salinity is a combination of two factors: decreasing contribution due to density fluctuation and increasing contribution due to concentration fluctuation, with the latter effect dominating. The trend is, however, slightly non-linear and the linear adjustment of scattering with salinity that is frequently used would lead to an underestimate by an average of 2%. The results estimated at S = 38.4‰ agree with the measurements by Morel (Cahiers Oceanographiques, 20, 157, 1968) with an average difference of 1%, well within his experimental error of 2%. The spectral signature also varies with salinity, with the power-law slope increasing from -4.286 to -4.306 for salinity from 0 to 40‰.

The use of density derivative of the refractive index from the classic Lorentz-Lorenz equation or its variations performed poorly in estimating the scattering by water, leading to the alternative use of pressure derivative instead, which however has been scarcely measured due to its extremely low sensitivity. Recently, density derivative has been deduced directly from theoretical models. Three characterizations of density derivative of the refractive index were evaluated and scattering of water thus calculated converge with each other within 3.5% and agree with the measurement by Morel (Cahiers Oceanographiques, 20, 157, 1968) within 2% (with depolarization ratio = 0.039), all improving over the earlier estimates based on either density or pressure derivatives. Taking into account of uncertainty associated with the depolarization ratio, the prediction based on the model by Proutiere et al. (J. Phy. Chem., 96, 3485, 1992) still agrees with the measurement within the experimental errors (2%).

A new physical-geometric optics method is developed to compute the single-scattering properties of faceted particles. It incorporates a general absorption vector to accurately account for inhomogeneous wave effects, and subsequently yields the relevant analytical formulas effective and computationally efficient for absorptive scattering particles. A bundle of rays incident on a certain facet can be traced as a single beam. For a beam incident on multiple facets, a systematic beam-splitting technique based on computer graphics is used to split the original beam into several sub-beams so that each sub-beam is incident only on an individual facet. The new beam-splitting technique significantly reduces the computational burden. The present physical-geometric optics method can be generalized to arbitrary faceted particles with either convex or concave shapes and with a homogeneous or an inhomogeneous (e.g., a particle with a core) composition. The single-scattering properties of irregular convex homogeneous and inhomogeneous hexahedra are simulated and compared to their counterparts from two other methods including a numerically rigorous method.

A new model for seawater scattering was developed, in which Gibbs function was used exclusively to derive the thermodynamic parameters that are associated with density fluctuation. Because Gibbs function was determined empirically from highly accurate measurements of a group of thermodynamic variables and is valid for S_A up to 120 g kg⁻¹ (Deep-Sea Research I, 55, 1639, 2008), we expect the model is also valid over the extended range of salinity. The model agrees with the measurements by Morel (Cahiers Oceanographiques, 20, 157, 1968) with an average difference of −0.6% for S = 0 and 2.7% for S = 38.4. The scattering by seawater as predicted increases with salinity in a non-linear fashion, and linear extrapolation of scattering based on Morel’s measurements would overestimate by up to 30%. The extrapolation of ZHH09 model (Optics Express, 17, 5698, 2009), which is valid for S_A up to 40 g kg⁻¹, however, agrees with the prediction within ± 2.5% over the entire range of salinity. Even though there are no measurements available for validation, the results suggested that the uncertainty is limited in using the newly developed model in estimating the scattering by seawater of high salinity.

A web-based decision support tool, zone mapping application for precision farming (ZoneMAP, http://zonemap.umac.org), has been developed to automatically determine the optimal number of management zones and delineate them using satellite imagery and field data provided by users. Application rates, such as of fertilizer, can be prescribed for each zone and downloaded in a variety of formats to ensure compatibility with GPS-enabled farming equipment. ZoneMAP is linked to Digital Northern Great Plains, a web-based application which hosts an archive of satellite imagery, as well as high resolution imagery from airborne sensors. Management zones created by ZoneMAP mapped natural variation of the soil organic matter and other nutrients relatively well and were consistent with zone maps created by traditional means. The results demonstrated that ZoneMAP can serve as an effective and easy-to-use tool for those who practice precision agriculture.