Radiative transfer calculations for remote sensing of coastal waters by airborne lidar and satellite radiometer have been compared in order to answer the question, whether an airborne lidar may be used instead ofin situmeasurements from ships to calibrate a satellite radiometer. The radiative transfer of laserlight measuring the Raman-scattering of water molecules, the fluorescence of chlorophyll-aand the fluorescence of yellow substance or Gelbstoff is simulated by the lidar equations while the radiance to a satellite radiometer is calculated with an ocean-atmosphere model based on the matrix-operator method. Including multiple scattering in the lidar equations, an eigenvalue analysis shows that three oceanic constituents (chlorophyll-a, nonchlorophyllous particles and Gelbstoff) can be separated measuring the backscattered laserlight at three wavelengths from a height of 100 to 200m. Changes in the concentration of all three substances are detected with higher accuracy with an airborne lidar than with a radiometer even at the same height. A comparison of different algorithms indicates that the common blue-green algorithms fail in coastal waters due to the variability of several oceanic constituents, which influence the colour of sea water. In this case, algorithms using the sun-induced chlorophyll-afluorescence at 685 nm, are superior to blue-green algorithms. Airborne lidar measurements of the chlorophyll-afluorescence at 685 nm, normalized by the Raman-signal at 650 nm, are as good asin situdata and can be used to calibrate satellite measurements of chlorophyll-a.