Chlorophyll-a (inland waters)

Chlorophyll-a concentration in inland water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers, estuaries). Distinguished from the GCOS `ocean-colour` parent because inland-water algorithms must handle high CDOM (coloured dissolved organic matter) and suspended sediment, which break standard ocean blue/green band-ratio retrievals. Common operational recipes: NDCI (Normalized Difference Chlorophyll Index, Mishra & Mishra 2012) for Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 MSI/OLCI; ACOLITE for joint atmospheric correction + retrieval over turbid case-2 waters; CyAN composites for US lakes (NASA/NOAA/USGS/EPA cyanobacteria early warning). CF has no inland-specific standard name, so the canonical sea-water name is reused with the algorithm distinction noted here. Consumed by drinking-water-safety, harmful-algal-bloom early warning, and watershed-management ops.