IMOS - Satellite Remote Sensing - MODIS - 01 day - Optical Water Type (Moore et al 2009 algorithm)

Updated: 2026-07-28

The Aqua satellite platform carries a MODIS sensor that observes sunlight reflected from within the ocean surface layer at multiple wavelengths. These measurements at discrete wavelengths represent the spectrum of light leaving the water surface, and the shape of the spectrum is characteristic of the water optical properties. Moore et al. (2009) applied a clustering technique to spectra to identify 8 sets of discrete optical water types. This product "owt_csiro" is produced using a CSIRO implementation of the Moore et al. algorithm, and testing shows that it closely reproduces the results of the original Moore et al implementation in the NASA SeaDAS package. The CSIRO implementation was created because the implementation in SeaDAS has not been kept up to date, and to extend the product to the VIIRS sensor. roduction of contemporary MODIS data ceased at 2024/12/26. Users requiring similar Ocean Colour Radiometry data beyond 2024 should consider the VIIRS instruments on the SNPP and NOAA20+ series of satellites, also provided by IMOS.