Progress and Prospect: Ocean Color Observation Satellites in China

After several decades of development, Chinese marine satellites and corresponding remote sensing applications have made remarkable achievements, and played an important role in Chinese marine information services. However, too little work has been devoted to discussing the progress of China's ocean color observation satellites. In this paper, the typical international ocean color instruments were investigated for a start, and we can trace the development history of international ocean color observation from it. Furthermore, the progress of China’s ocean color satellites was reviewed, especially for the development process of China's 1
^st
generation ocean color satellite. Especially, the performance of the newly launched HY-3A spacecraft was also described. Lastly, some measures were discussed for the future of China’s ocean color observation satellites.