| ARP | absorbed radiation by phytoplankton |
| ATBD | Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document |
| C | chlorophyll concentration |
| CDOM | colored dissolved organic matter |
| CFE | chlorophyll fluorescence efficiency |
| CZCS | Coastal Zone Color Scanner |
| DAAC | Distributed Active Archive Center |
| DSP | DISPLAY (data format) |
| ECS | EOSDIS Core System |
| EOS | Earth Observing System |
| EOSDIS | Earth Observing System Data and Information System |
| FLH | fluorescence line height |
| GDAAC | Goddard DAAC |
| GLI | Global Imager |
| GSFC | Goddard Space Flight Center |
| HDF | Hierarchical Data Format |
| IDL | Interactive Data Language |
| IPAR | Instantaneous PAR |
| MCF | Metadata Configuration File |
| MODIS | Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer |
| NASA | National Aeronautics and Space Administration |
| NASDA | National Space Development Agency of Japan |
| NMC | National Meteorological Center |
| PAR | Photosynthetically Available Radiation |
| PEB | Phycoerythrobilin-rich Phycoerythrin |
| PCF | Process Control File |
| PGE | Product Generation Executives |
| PUB | Phycourobilin-rich Phycoerythrin |
| SeaDAS | SeaWiFS Data Analysis System |
| SeaWiFS | Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor |
| SDP | Science Data Production |
| SDPS | Science Data Production System |
| SDST | Science Data Support Team |
| SST | Sea-Surface Temperature |
| TIROS | Television and Infrared Operational Satellite |
| TOVS | TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder |
Documented by Jasmine S. Bartlett, COAS, Oregon State University.