At GSO, archives of satellite sensor data recording sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll-a dating back to the first collections provide researchers interested in all aspects of circulation in the surface ocean with data to study phenomena such as latitudinal heat advection, ocean current speed and directions, surface ocean eddies, and climate change.

Using a collection of instruments, GSO scientists analyze in-situ optical oceanic properties, optical backscattering, chlorophyll fluorescence, particle size distribution, to better link the ambient light field in seawater to global-scale processes derived from satellite remote sensing, a necessity to ground-truth satellite observations.