The Lucinda Jetty Coastal Observatory's role in satellite ocean colour calibration and validation for Great Barrier Reef coastal waters

The Lucinda Jetty Coastal Observatory (LJCO) was established as part of Australia's Integrated Marine Observing System, to provide reliable data streams in coastal waters to unravel the inaccuracies in remotely-sensed satellite ocean colour products, LJCO is located at the end of a 5.76 km long Lucinda Jetty (18.52S, 146.39E) in the coastal waters of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area close to the Herbert River Estuary and the Hinchinbrook Channel. The Lucinda Jetty Coastal Observatory generates two complementary data streams: above water radiometry and in water measurement of the optical properties. An autonomous above-water radiometer performs radiometric measurements for determining water-leaving radiance and atmospheric measurements for retrieving aerosol optical properties. An in situ underwater instrument package is deployed to characterize the inherent optical properties of these complex coastal waters. The instruments were commissioned in October 2009. Details on the instrument setup, data acquisition and some preliminary data acquired for LJCO are presented.