The Arctic is subject to substantial changes due to the greenhouse gas induced climate change. While impacts on lateral transport pathways such as rivers have been extensively studied yet, there is little knowledge about ecological and geological reactions of nearshore environments, even though those are of high importance for native communities. Here we present an extensive dataset of bio-optical parameters collected in the nearshore zone of Herschel Island, western Canadian Arctic in summer 2018, containing suspended particulate matter concentration (SPM), turbidity, sea surface temperature (SST) and the water leaving reflectance (RRS). Our results clearly indicate that recently published bio-optical models using validation data from the Canadian Beaufort Shelf are not able to reflect the local nature of Herschel Islands nearshore environment and strongly underestimate reality. Accurate bio-optical models of Arctic nearshore environments are necessary to enhance the knowledge of Arctic marine dynamics and recently published bio-optical models need an adjustment.