THE FOCUS OF THE TRAINING WORKSHOP IS ON THE METHODOLOGY FOR OBTAINING HIGH-QUALITY IN-SITU MEASUREMENTS OF OPTICAL PROPERTIES FROM A VARIETY OF PLATFORMS IN SUPPORT OF CALIBRATION AND VALIDATION ACTIVITIES ASSOCIATED WITH OCEAN COLOR REMOTE SENSING WITH ATTENTION TO PREPARING FOR THE LAUNCH OF THE NASA PRE-AEROSOLS CLOUDS AND OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS (PACE) SATELLITE IN 2022 AS WELL AS NOVEL HIGH RESOLUTION OCEAN COLOR PLATFORM (LANDSAT 8 AND SENTINEL 2). TOPICS RANGE FROM PROPER SENSOR CALIBRATION SENSOR DEPLOYMENT AND DATA ANALYSIS TO USE OF MODELS AND DATA-DATA AND DATA-MODEL COMPARISONS TO ASSESS UNCERTAINTIES ASSOCIATED WITH DATA. FIELD SAMPLING FOCUS ON THE DIVERSE NEAR-SHORE ESTUARINE AND COASTAL WATERS OF MID-COAST MAINE. THE TRAINING INCLUDES 1. LECTURES ON THE BASIC THEORY OF THE LIGHT INTERACTION WITH MATTER IN AQUATIC ENVIRONMENTS; OCEAN COLOR REMOTE SENSING AND ITS INVERSION; OPTICAL SENSOR DESIGN AND FUNCTION; OCEAN BIOGEOCHEMISTRY; COMPUTATION AND PROPAGATION OF MEASUREMENT UNCERTAINTIES; 2. LABORATORY SESSIONS USING OPTICAL INSTRUMENTATION RADIATIVE TRANSFER SOFTWARE AND REMOTELY-SENSED DATA; 3. FIELD SAMPLING OF OPTICAL AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL VARIABLES IN THE ENVIRONMENTALLY DIVERSE WATERS OF COASTAL MAINE; 4. ANALYSIS OF OPTICAL AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL DATA SETS; AND 5. COLLABORATIVE PARTICIPANTS PROJECTS. NASA REQUIRES A SUITE OF BIO-OPTICAL AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL MEASUREMENTS TO SUPPORT ITS OCEAN COLOR CAL/VAL ACTIVITIES. THIS SUITE INCLUDES: (1) ACCURATE RADIOMETRY (WATER LEAVING RADIANCE DOWNWELLING IRRADIANCE) AND SPECTRAL APPARENT OPTICAL PROPERTIES (AOPS) WHICH ARE USED IN SATELLITE INSTRUMENT CALIBRATION DATA PRODUCT VALIDATION AND OCEAN COLOR ALGORITHM DEVELOPMENT; (2) SPECTRAL INHERENT OPTICAL PROPERTIES (IOPS) AND CARBON ABUNDANCES WHICH ARE USED TO DEVELOP APPROACHES FOR ESTIMATING MARINE CARBON CYCLES AND PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY; AND (3) PHYTOPLANKTON PIGMENT CONCENTRATIONS WHICH ARE USED TO DEVELOP REMOTE-SENSING METHODS FOR ASSESSING BIODIVERSITY AND PRIMARY PRODUCTIVITY. OUR WORKSHOP DIRECTLY IMPACT BOTH NASA AND THE RESEARCH COMMUNITY (AND THUS IS HIGHLY RELEVANT TO NASA) AS ITS PRIMARY PURPOSE IS TO TRAIN NEW MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY HOW TO GENERATE HIGH-QUALITY IN-SITU OPTICAL AND BIOGEOCHEMICAL DATA FOR INCLUSION IN DATA RECORDS FOR USE IN OCEAN COLOR SATELLITE VICARIOUS CALIBRATION DATA PRODUCT VALIDATION AND ALGORITHM DEVELOPMENT.