Global Ocean studies from ICESat-2 mission

This talk presents the global ocean optical properties obtained from space-based lidar: ATLAS/ICESat-2, which is a follow-on mission to ICESat and was launched in September 2018 and now provides global altimetry and atmospheric measurements with particular emphasis on surface elevation changes in the polar regions. Fortunately, additional, and previously unexploited information from the penetration of laser light below ocean surfaces offers a new and exciting opportunity to study the global ocean subsurface phytoplankton properties. Our collaborate team onsite at NASA's Langley Research Center (LaRC) and Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has proposed novel algorithms to determine ocean optical properties, such as subsurface attenuated backscatter coefficient, particulate backscattering coefficient, coastal water bathymetry, and seafloor reflectance of shallow waters from ICESat-2 lidar measurements.