• Journal of the Korean earth science society
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.247-263
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• 2021

Climate change has been accelerating in coastal waters recently; therefore, the importance of coastal environmental monitoring is also increasing. Chlorophyll-a concentration, an important marine variable, in the surface layer of the global ocean has been retrieved for decades through various ocean color satellites and utilized in various research fields. However, the commonly used chlorophyll-a concentration algorithm is only suitable for application in clear water and cannot be applied to turbid waters because significant errors are caused by differences in their distinct components and optical properties. In addition, designing a standard algorithm for coastal waters is difficult because of differences in various optical characteristics depending on the coastal area. To overcome this problem, various algorithms have been developed and used considering the components and the variations in the optical properties of coastal waters with high turbidity. Chlorophyll-a concentration retrieval algorithms can be categorized into empirical algorithms, semi-analytic algorithms, and machine learning algorithms. These algorithms mainly use the blue-green band ratio based on the reflective spectrum of sea water as the basic form. In constrast, algorithms developed for turbid water utilizes the green-red band ratio, the red-near-infrared band ratio, and the inherent optical properties to compensate for the effect of dissolved organisms and suspended sediments in coastal area. Reliable retrieval of satellite chlorophyll-a concentration from turbid waters is essential for monitoring the coastal environment and understanding changes in the marine ecosystem. Therefore, this study summarizes the pre-existing algorithms that have been utilized for monitoring turbid Case 2 water and presents the problems associated with the mornitoring and study of seas around the Korean Peninsula. We also summarize the prospective for future ocean color satellites, which can yield more accurate and diverse results regarding the ecological environment with the development of multi-spectral and hyperspectral sensors.