Identification

Title

Predicting euphotic-depth-integrated chlorophyll-a from discrete-depth and satellite-observable chlorophyll-a off central California

Abstract

Predicting water column integrated phytoplankton biomass from near-surface measurements has been an important effort in marine ecological research, particularly since the advent of satellite remote sensing of ocean color. Quantitative relationships between chlorophyll-a concentrations (Chl-a) at the surface and its depth-integrated magnitude have thus far only been developed for open-ocean waters. Here we develop and test for the first time an extension of open-ocean relationships into ocean-margin waters, specifically the highly productive and variable eastern boundary upwelling ecosystem off the central California coast. This region was chosen because of the unique availability of a 30-year record of ship-based Chl-a profiles measured using consistent methods. The extended relationship allows accurate prediction of integrated biomass from surface measurements. Further, we develop a new set of relationships for predicting the depth-integrated Chl-a from Chl-a measured over a range of discrete depths (i.e., as measured by fluorometers on moorings). The newly developed relationships are tested against 15,000 fluorometric Chl-a profiles obtained from an autonomous underwater vehicle. Surprisingly, the relationship between surface Chl-a and depth-integrated Chl-a holds for profiles with high concentrations of Chl-a in persistent subsurface thin phytoplankton layers (layers <3 m thick and located below the first optical depth). The results have implications for monitoring of algal blooms and for quantifying ocean primary productivity from satellite observations of ocean color.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7mk6dj0

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2012-05-26T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact