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Quality control (QC) practices are a fundamental requirement for any measurement program targeting the delivery of high-quality data. In agreement with such a need, the Ocean Color component of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET-OC) includes a number of QC steps ensuring the delivery of normalized water-leaving radiance LWN spectra at incremental accuracy levels identified as level 1.0, level 1.5, and level 2.0. Currently, the final QC step allowing for rising level 1.5 LWN spectra to level 2.0 implies the execution of an expert-based procedure, which is extremely time consuming and naturally undergoes subjective decisions on dubious cases. These limitations solicited the development of an automated procedure, so-called , mimicking the steps supporting an expert analyst during the final QC of AERONET-OC LWN spectra. applies hierarchical tests to check (i) the relative consistency of level 1.5 LWN spectra (called candidates) with respect to LWN reference spectra (called prototypes) constructed using LWN spectra formerly and independently quality controlled; (ii) the absence of any pronounced spectral feature in portions of each LWN candidate spectrum expected to exhibit a regular shape; and additionally, when applicable, (iii) the temporal consistency of the LWN candidate spectrum with respect to close-in-time spectra as a criterion to further strengthen the quality of data. performance has been verified using LWN spectra from AERONET-OC measurement sites representative of various water types embracing oligotrophic/mesotrophic waters dominated by chlorophyll-a concentration and coastal waters exhibiting increasing levels of optical complexity. has shown an acceptance rate of AERONET-OC level 1.5 LWN candidate spectra varying between approximately 89% and 93% with agreement in the range of 88%–93% with respect to the LWN spectra independently quality controlled through the expert-based procedure. The additional capability of to rank the fully quality-controlled LWN spectra combining weights depending on the various tests, anticipates the possibility to best support applications with diverse accuracy needs. Finally, acceptance rates of for LWN prototype spectra built using level 1.5 data, an alternative to fully quality-controlled level 2.0, have shown values generally increased by less than 1%. This indicates the possibility to lessen the constraint implying the existence of reference level 2.0 LWN data for the relative-consistency test at the expense of a fairly low reduction in accuracy.

During the last decade, new applications exploiting data from satellite borne lidar measurements demonstrated that these sensors can give valuable information about ocean optical properties [1,2,3]. Within this framework, COLOR (CDOM-proxy retrieval from aeOLus ObseRvations) consisted in a 18-month feasibility study approved by ESA within the Aeolus+ Innovation program. COLOR had the objective to evaluate and document the feasibility of deriving an in-water prototype product from the analysis of the signal acquired by the ESA Earth Explorer Wind Mission ADM-Aeolus (Atmospheric Dynamics Mission). In particular, COLOR project focused on the AEOLUS potential retrieval of the diffuse attenuation coefficient for downwelling irradiance (Kd [m-1]) from the ocean sub-surface backscattered component of the 355 nm received lidar signal.The core activity of the project was the characterization of the signal from the AEOLUS ground bin through two parallel and strongly interacting activities: a) Radiative transfer numerical modelling; b) AEOLUS data analysis. The main result of the project will be presented together with the discussion of the perspectives of the satellite lidar missions dedicated to ocean color. [1] M. J. Behrenfeld et al. (2019). Global satellite-observed daily vertical migrations of ocean animals», Nature, vol. 576, n. 7786, Art. n. 7786, dic. 2019, doi: 10.1038/s41586-019-1796-9.[2] Jamet, C., Ibrahim, A., Ahmad, Z., Angelini, F., Babin, M., Behrenfeld, M. J., et al. (2019). Going beyond standard ocean color observations: lidar and polarimetry. Front. Mar. Sci. 6:251. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00251[3] D. Dionisi, V. E. Brando, G. Volpe, S. Colella, e R. Santoleri (2020). Seasonal distributions of ocean particulate optical properties from spaceborne lidar measurements in Mediterranean and Black sea», Remote Sens. Environ., vol. 247, pag. 111889, set. 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2020.111889.

The sea-surface reflectance factor ρ required for the determination of the water- leaving radiance from above-water radiometric measurements is derived from radiative transfer simulations relying on models of the sky-radiance distribution and sea-surface statistics. This work primarily investigates the impact on ρ of various sky-radiance and sea-surface models. A specific replicability analysis, restricted to the 550 nm wavelength, has been performed with the Monte Carlo code for Ocean Color Simulations (so-called MOX) accounting for the measurement geometry recommended in protocols for the validation of satellite ocean color data and commonly applied for operational measurements. Results indicate that the variability of ρ increases with wind speed and reaches the largest values for sun elevations close to the zenith or approaching the horizon. In particular, a variability up to about 2% is observed for wind speeds below 4 ms−1 and sun zenith angles larger than 20°. Finally, the benchmark of the ρ values from this study with those formally determined with the Hydrolight code and widely utilized by the ocean color community, exhibits systematic differences. The source of these differences is discussed and the implications for field measurements are addressed.

22 pages, 14 figures, 5 tables, 2 appendixes.-- Data availability statement: AERONET-OC data are available from NASA (https://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/new_web/ocean_color.html), The Ocean Color Component of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET-OC) supports activities related to ocean color such as validation of satellite data products, assessment of atmospheric correction schemes, and evaluation of bio-optical models through globally distributed standardized measurements of water-leaving radiance and aerosol optical depth. In view of duly assisting the AERONET-OC data user community, this work (i) summarizes the latest investigations on a number of scientific issues related to above-water radiometry, (ii) emphasizes the network expansion that from 2002 until the end of 2020 integrated 31 effective measurement sites, (iii) shows the equivalence of data product accuracy across sites and time for measurements performed with different instrument series, (iv) illustrates the variety of water types represented by the network sites ensuring validation activities across a diversity of observation conditions, and (v) documents the availability of water-leaving radiance data corrected for bidirectional effects by applying a method specifically developed for chlorophyll-a-dominated waters and an alternative one that is likely suitable for any water type, With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S)

A field intercomparison was conducted at the Acqua Alta Oceanographic Tower (AAOT) in the northern Adriatic Sea, from 9 to 19 July 2018 to assess differences in the accuracy of in- and above-water radiometer measurements used for the validation of ocean colour products. Ten measurement systems were compared. Prior to the intercomparison, the absolute radiometric calibration of all sensors was carried out using the same standards and methods at the same reference laboratory. Measurements were performed under clear sky conditions, relatively low sun zenith angles, moderately low sea state and on the same deployment platform and frame (except in-water systems). The weighted average of five above-water measurements was used as baseline reference for comparisons. For downwelling irradiance ( E d ), there was generally good agreement between sensors with differences of

In the context of the Copernicus Program, EUMETSAT prioritizes the creation of an ocean color infrastructure for system vicarious calibration (OC-SVC). This work aims to reply to this need by proposing the European Radiometry Buoy and Infrastructure (EURYBIA). EURYBIA is designed as an autonomous European infrastructure operating within the Marine Optical Network (MarONet) established by University of Miami (Miami, FL, USA) based on the Marine Optical Buoy (MOBY) experience and NASA support. MarONet addresses SVC requirements in different sites, consistently and in a traceable way. The selected EURYBIA installation is close to the Lampedusa Island in the central Mediterranean Sea. This area is widely studied and hosts an Atmospheric and Oceanographic Observatory for long-term climate monitoring. The EURYBIA field segment comprises off-shore and on-shore infrastructures to manage the observation system and perform routine sensors calibrations. The ground segment includes the telemetry center for data communication and the processing center to compute data products and uncertainty budgets. The study shows that the overall uncertainty of EURYBIA SVC gains computed for the Sentinel-3 OLCI mission under EUMETSAT protocols is of about 0.05% in the blue-green wavelengths after a decade of measurements, similar to that of the reference site in Hawaii and in compliance with requirements for climate studies.

An intercomparison of radiance and irradiance ocean color radiometers (The Second Laboratory Comparison Exercise—LCE-2) was organized within the frame of the European Space Agency funded project Fiducial Reference Measurements for Satellite Ocean Color (FRM4SOC) May 8−13, 2017 at Tartu Observatory, Estonia. LCE-2 consisted of three sub-tasks: 1) SI-traceable radiometric calibration of all the participating radiance and irradiance radiometers at the Tartu Observatory just before the comparisons; 2) Indoor intercomparison using stable radiance and irradiance sources in controlled environment; and 3) Outdoor intercomparison of natural radiation sources over terrestrial water surface. The aim of the experiment was to provide one link in the chain of traceability from field measurements of water reflectance to the uniform SI-traceable calibration, and after calibration to verify whether different instruments measuring the same object provide results consistent within the expected uncertainty limits. This paper describes the activities and results of the first two phases of LCE-2: the SI-traceable radiometric calibration and indoor intercomparison, the results of outdoor experiment are presented in a related paper of the same journal issue. The indoor experiment of the LCE-2 has proven that uniform calibration just before the use of radiometers is highly effective. Distinct radiometers from different manufacturers operated by different scientists can yield quite close radiance and irradiance results (standard deviation s < 1%) under defined conditions. This holds when measuring stable lamp-based targets under stationary laboratory conditions with all the radiometers uniformly calibrated against the same standards just prior to the experiment. In addition, some unification of measurement and data processing must be settled. Uncertainty of radiance and irradiance measurement under these conditions largely consists of the sensor’s calibration uncertainty and of the spread of results obtained by individual sensors measuring the same object.

Two regional bio-optical algorithms are combined to retrieve the Chlorophyll- a ( $\text {Chl-}\textit {a}$ ) concentration in the Black Sea. The first is a band-ratio algorithm that computes $\text {Chl-}\textit {a}$ as a function of the slope of Remote Sensing Reflectance ( $\mathit {R_{\text {RS}}}$ ) values at two wavelengths using a polynomial regression that captures the overall data trend, enhancing extrapolation results. The second algorithm is a Multilayer Perceptron neural net based on $\mathit {R_{\text {RS}}}$ values at three individual wavelengths that features interpolation capabilities helpful to fit data non-linearities. A new merging scheme is then designed to benefit from the complementarity of the two approaches. Remote sensing data employed to demonstrate the merging of regional results for the Black Sea are those acquired by the Ocean and Land Color Instrument on board Sentinel-3A to acknowledge the need for data products of higher accuracy within the long-term Copernicus program.

An intercomparison of radiance and irradiance ocean color radiometers (the second laboratory comparison exercise—LCE-2) was organized within the frame of the European Space Agency funded project Fiducial Reference Measurements for Satellite Ocean Color (FRM4SOC) May 8–13, 2017 at Tartu Observatory, Estonia. LCE-2 consisted of three sub-tasks: (1) SI-traceable radiometric calibration of all the participating radiance and irradiance radiometers at the Tartu Observatory just before the comparisons; (2) indoor, laboratory intercomparison using stable radiance and irradiance sources in a controlled environment; (3) outdoor, field intercomparison of natural radiation sources over a natural water surface. The aim of the experiment was to provide a link in the chain of traceability from field measurements of water reflectance to the uniform SI-traceable calibration, and after calibration to verify whether different instruments measuring the same object provide results consistent within the expected uncertainty limits. This paper describes the third phase of LCE-2: The results of the field experiment. The calibration of radiometers and laboratory comparison experiment are presented in a related paper of the same journal issue. Compared to the laboratory comparison, the field intercomparison has demonstrated substantially larger variability between freshly calibrated sensors, because the targets and environmental conditions during radiometric calibration were different, both spectrally and spatially. Major differences were found for radiance sensors measuring a sunlit water target at viewing zenith angle of 139° because of the different fields of view. Major differences were found for irradiance sensors because of imperfect cosine response of diffusers. Variability between individual radiometers did depend significantly also on the type of the sensor and on the specific measurement target. Uniform SI traceable radiometric calibration ensuring fairly good consistency for indoor, laboratory measurements is insufficient for outdoor, field measurements, mainly due to the different angular variability of illumination. More stringent specifications and individual testing of radiometers for all relevant systematic effects (temperature, nonlinearity, spectral stray light, etc.) are needed to reduce biases between instruments and better quantify measurement uncertainties.

This study investigates how the number of data collected for algorithm development in typical case-1 waters and optically complex cases can affect the remote sensing of ocean color (OC) products. Marine conditions dominated by the colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and nonalgal particles are considered. The applied OC inversion schemes are based on multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural nets for data classification and regression. Simulated data for MLP training are generated with a forward OC model. Results show that a disproportion of samples representing different marine optical cases influences the MLP learning and hence also the data product retrieval, mostly in mixed case-1 and CDOM-dominated environments. A postclassification correction is then employed for performance improvements. Methodological developments are presented, acknowledging the coastal water monitoring prioritized by the Copernicus Earth Observation program.

This study investigates standard and regional algal pigment index 1 (API1) estimates in the Atlantic off the southwestern Iberian Peninsula. Standard API1 data are those delivered by the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) orbiting sensor. Equivalent quantities are computed by applying a regional inversion scheme using as input both MERIS and in situ remote sensing reflectances $(R_{\mathrm{rs}})$ . Reference data for the development of the regional algorithm and for the analysis of tested products include field measurements of total concentration of chlorophyll $a$ (TChl a ) and coincident $R_{\mathrm{rs}}$ values collected at different distances from the coast. Validation results, based on matchup analysis, identifies a systematic overestimation of standard API1 versus the reference TChl a values. The additional comparison of product maps in selected regions of interest confirms this tendency and demonstrates the feasibility and relevance of using regional algorithms for investigating spaceborne products. Analogous applications are hence devised for the early-stage evaluation of the forthcoming Sentinel-3/OLCI data products.

An intercomparison of radiance and irradiance ocean color radiometers (the second laboratory comparison exercise--LCE-2) was organized within the frame of the European Space Agency funded project Fiducial Reference Measurements for Satellite Ocean Color (FRM4SOC) May 8-13, 2017 at Tartu Observatory, Estonia. LCE-2 consisted of three sub-tasks: (1) SI-traceable radiometric calibration of all the participating radiance and irradiance radiometers at the Tartu Observatory just before the comparisons; (2) indoor, laboratory intercomparison using stable radiance and irradiance sources in a controlled environment; (3) outdoor, field intercomparison of natural radiation sources over a natural water surface. The aim of the experiment was to provide a link in the chain of traceability from field measurements of water reflectance to the uniform SI-traceable calibration, and after calibration to verify whether different instruments measuring the same object provide results consistent within the expected uncertainty limits. This paper describes the third phase of LCE-2: The results of the field experiment. The calibration of radiometers and laboratory comparison experiment are presented in a related paper of the same journal issue [1]. Compared to the laboratory comparison, the field intercomparison has demonstrated substantially larger variability between freshly calibrated sensors, because the targets and environmental conditions during radiometric calibration were different, both spectrally and spatially. Major differences were found for radiance sensors measuring a sunlit water target at viewing zenith angle of 139° because of the different fields of view. Major differences were found for irradiance sensors because of imperfect cosine response of diffusers. Variability between individual radiometers did depend significantly also on the type of the sensor and on the specific measurement target. Uniform SI traceable radiometric calibration ensuring fairly good consistency for indoor, laboratory measurements is insufficient for outdoor, field measurements, mainly due to the different angular variability of illumination. More stringent specifications and individual testing of radiometers for all relevant systematic effects (temperature, nonlinearity, spectral stray light, etc.) are needed to reduce biases between instruments and better quantify measurement uncertainties.

This document concerns the collection, analysis and on-line experimentation of ocean color data off the Western Iberian Peninsula. Field measurements have been acquired during the BIOMETORE field campaign in summer 2016 to evaluate and enhance Earth observation capabilities of the Copernicus program. Deliverables of the Ocean and Land Colour Instrument on board of the Sentinel-3 satellite of the European Space Agency are of specific interest. Preliminary evaluations confirm the quality of the in situ measurements to address the match-up future analysis of radiometric values and derived data products. On-line experimentation undertaken with the WebEnhanced Service To Ocean Color demonstrates the feasibility of enabling in a transparent way the user's access to complex functionalities such as neural network applications. FCT [IF/00541/2013/CP1181] info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The authors are grateful to Dr. Giuseppe Zibordi (E.C. Joint Research Centre, Italy) for his support from in situ marine radiometry perspectives. This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT/MEC) through the grant PEst-OE/EEI/UI0527/2011. Access to the Milipeia cluster (University of Coimbra, Portugal) was granted through the project 'Large-scale parallel Monte Carlo simulations for ocean colour applications.' Additional funding was granted through the ESA contract No. 22576/09/I-OL, ARG/003-025/1406/CIMA, and NOVA LINCS Ref. UID/CEC/04516/2013. This paper presents a high-performance computing (HPC) framework for Monte Carlo (MC) simulations in the ocean color (OC) application domain. The objective is to optimize a parallel MC radiative transfer code named MOX, developed by the authors to create a virtual marine environment for investigating the quality of OC data products derived from in situ measurements of in-water radiometric quantities. A consolidated set of solutions for performance modeling, prediction, and optimization is implemented to enhance the efficiency of MC OC simulations on HPC run-time infrastructures. HPC, machine learning, and adaptive computing techniques are applied taking into account a clear separation and systematic treatment of accuracy and precision requirements for large-scale MC OC simulations. The added value of the work is the integration of computational methods and tools for MC OC simulations in the form of an HPC-oriented problem-solving environment specifically tailored to investigate data acquisition and reduction methods for OC field measurements. Study results highlight the benefit of close collaboration between HPC and application domain researchers to improve the efficiency and flexibility of computer simulations in the marine optics application domain. publishersversion published

This letter discusses the normalized water-leaving reflectance obtained from two atmospheric corrections built in the MEGS 8.0 processor applied to the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) marine data. In situ reference data for intercomparisons with satellite-derived reflectance products are from the Ocean Color component of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET-OC). Case of study is the northern Adriatic Sea AERONET-OC site characterized by both Case-1 and Case-2 waters. The accuracy of MERIS pigment indices is also discussed in relation to uncertainties and biases affecting atmospherically corrected data.

Standard ocean color data products from the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) are compared with equivalent regional products in European seas exhibiting different bio-optical properties: the northern Adriatic Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Western Black Sea (ADRS, BLTS and BLKS, respectively). Investigated quantities are: 1) the algal-2 pigment index, alg2; 2) the composite absorption coefficient of yellow substance and non-pigmented particles at 442 nm, adg; and 3) the concentration of the total suspended matter, TSM. Regional data products are created using ocean color inversion schemes based on MultiLayer Perceptron (MLP) neural nets trained with field measurements from the Coastal Atmosphere and Sea Time Series (CoASTS) and Bio-Optical mapping of Marine Properties (BiOMaP) programs. MLP input is the remote sensing reflectance RRS at MERIS center-wavelengths specifically selected for different water types in view of minimizing the perturbing effects of inaccurate atmospheric correction on the retrieval of regional data products. A new method is also proposed to define the applicability of regional MLPs to input RRS. Results indicate that MERIS alg2 values tend to overestimate the equivalent quantity computed with MLP regional algorithms. The agreement between MERIS and regional TSM data products is significantly better than that reported for alg2 and adg, especially for BLKS. Findings highlight the relevance of using regional inversion schemes to evaluate standard products over extended oceanographic regions as a complement to the analysis of match-ups between marine products measured in situ and derived from space-born data.

The objective of this study is to verify whether accurate and continuous estimates of freshwater discharge at the mouth of a narrow estuary with a single channel can be obtained from a bottom-mounted current profiler (ADCP). The focus is on moderate- to high-discharge events that significantly affect the water circulation corresponding to low river flow conditions. Observations at the Guadiana Estuary (southern Iberia) indicate lateral subtidal flow variability, constant cross-channel area, and quasi-steady response of the axial velocity to discharge events. Based on the concept of maximum entropy, the mean and maximum channel velocities were related by a constant ratio, Ω, using data from three cross-channel surveys. This relationship was then used to estimate the freshwater discharge at the mouth based on the maximum velocity obtained from the detided ADCP velocity profiles. This approach was possible because the ADCP was deployed near the position of maximum current velocity, that is, over the deepest part of the channel. The results show good correspondence with observations, indicating that the entropy model can complete or substitute the records from upstream gauged stations that do not include the contribution from downstream tributaries. A Multilayer Perceptron neural net (MLP) based on the entropy approach was then implemented with the purpose of estimating the discharge when Ω is unknown. This latter analysis showsthat the relationship between maximum velocity and discharge is quasi-stationary. Consequently, the MLP can successfully estimate freshwater runoff if the training data represent all statistical properties of the river discharge dynamics. The results also indicate that Ω may vary not only with concomitant hydrographic conditions, but also with the recent (i.e., several days prior) discharge magnitude. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Above-water radiometry depends on estimates of the reflectance factor rho of the sea surface to compute the in situ water-leaving radiance. The Monte Carlo code for ocean color simulations MOX is used in this study to analyze the effect of different environmental components on r values. A first aspect is examining the reflectance factor without and by accounting for the sky-radiance polarization. The influence of the sea-surface statistics at discrete grid points is then considered by presenting a new scheme to define the variance of the waves slope. Results at different sun elevations and sensor orientations indicate that the light polarization effect on r simulations reduces from similar to 17 to similar to 10% when the wind speed increases from 0 to 14ms(-1). An opposite tendency characterizes the modeling of the sea-surface slope variance, with r differences up to similar to 12% at a wind speed of 10ms(-1). The joint effect of polarization and the the sea-surface statistics displays a less systematic dependence on the wind speed, with differences in the range similar to 13 to similar to 18%. The r changes due to the light polarization and the variance of the waves slope become more relevant at sky-viewing geometries respectively lower and higher than 40 degrees with respect to the zenith. An overall compensation of positive and negative offsets due to light polarization is finally documented when considering different sun elevations. These results address additional investigations which, by combining the modeling and experimental components of marine optics, better evaluate specific measurement protocols for collecting above-water radiometric data in the field. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America

Multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural networks for regional satellite ocean color applications have been developed and assessed using in situ data from various European seas. Considered MLP products are chlorophyll a concentration ( Chl–a ), absorption by yellow substance at 412 nm ( a ys (412)) and concentration of total suspended matter (TSM), all determined from spectral remote sensing reflectance R RS . Investigated oceanographic regions comprise the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, the northern Adriatic Sea, the Western Black Sea and the Baltic Sea. The in situ measurements applied in the study were produced within the framework of the Coastal Atmosphere and Sea Time Series (CoASTS) and Bio-Optical Mapping of Marine Properties (BiOMaP) programs contributing to a unique dataset that represents different water types including chlorophyll a , yellow substance and sediment dominated waters. Performance analysis of the proposed regional MLPs indicates that Chl–a can be quantified with the highest accuracy in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (with absolute percent difference of 14% with respect to in situ measurements). In the case of a ys (412), the most accurate determination is observed for the Baltic Sea waters (13%). Instead, TSM retrieval is the most accurate in the Black Sea (14%). The study demonstrated the limited generalization capability of regional algorithms. Within this context, saturation of MLP output occurring with input data not statistically represented in the training set has been investigated through cross-basin product analysis in view of proposing a practical solution to the problem.

Advanced remote sensing techniques and regional algorithms are combined to produce and analyze a 12-year multi-sensor time series of bio-optical properties for the Adriatic Sea. First, a multi-sensor series of normalized water-leaving radiance LWN is created with an optically-based merging technique applied to SeaWiFS and MODIS data, then distributions of inherent optical properties (IOPs) are obtained with a semi-analytical bio-optical model. Additionally, Chla is computed by two regional empirical algorithms associated with two classes of optical properties representative of open ocean waters and Adriatic coastal regions (Classes 1 and 2, respectively). The domain of applicability of each algorithm is dynamically determined on the basis of the LWN input spectrum by a novelty detection approach. The various satellite products are validated using a comprehensive bio-optical time series collected in the northern Adriatic. At the basin level, the frequency of occurrence of Classes 1 and 2 are 61% and 10%, respectively, with Class 2 waters particularly located in the northern part and characterized by higher levels of Chla and IOPs. The annual cycle of Chla over the 12-year period exhibits significant variations in amplitude and phase; moreover, the annual cycle shows a reduced amplitude during a period centered on 2004 for a time interval that varies with the region. In the northern Adriatic, the overall level of Chla appears lower between 2003 and 2008 compared to the beginning of the series.

The development and assessment of satellite ocean color products require quality assured in situ data representative of the variety of bio-optical regimes encountered in the different seas. The measurement program named Bio-Optical mapping of Marine Properties (BiOMaP) fulfills this requirement by using identical instruments and applying cross-site consistent methods for the characterization of seawater inherent and apparent optical properties in the various European seas. This work introduces the BiOMaP radiometric data and describes their application to the validation of primary ocean color products. Within this framework, the radiometric data are discussed through the spectral shape and amplitude of normalized water-leaving radiances ( L WN ). Specifically, the spectral shape is expressed through the Principal Component Analysis of L WN (λ)/ L WN (555) while the amplitude is represented by L WN (555). The resulting distribution of BiOMaP data in a three dimensional feature space demonstrates a continuity of cases across the investigated marine regions confirming a wide representativity of bio-optical regimes. The application of BiOMaP data to the validation of remote sensing reflectance from the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), indicates improved performance of the SeaWiFS Data Analysis System (SeaDAS, version 6.1) atmospheric correction. In particular, the comparison of satellite and in situ matchups in the blue spectral region shows biases of a few percent with respect to the much larger reported in studies relying on earlier SeaDAS versions. Matchup analyses, restricted to the Eastern Mediterranean, Black and Baltic Seas, indicate marked regional differences likely explained by the diversity of water and aerosol types.