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A phytoplankton absorption-based primary productivity model for remote sensing in the Southern Ocean

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Abstract

Recent global environmental changes such as an increase in sea surface temperature (SST) are likely to impact primary productivity of phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean. However, models to estimate net primary production using satellite data use SST and uncertain estimation of chlorophyll a (chl-a) concentration. A primary productivity model for satellite ocean color data from the Southern Ocean, which is based on the light absorption coefficient of phytoplankton to reduce uncertainties of sea surface chl-a estimations and bias in optimal values of chl-a normalized productivity derived from SST, has been developed. The new model was able to estimate net primary productivity in the water column (PP eu) without dependency on temperature when in the range of −2 to 25°C, and it explained 51% of the observed variability in PP eu with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.15. Application of the model revealed that the SST dependent model has overestimated PP eu in warmer waters around the Subtropical Front, and underestimated PP eu in colder waters poleward of the Sub-Antarctic Front. This absorption-based primary productivity model contributes to a study of the relationship among spatio-temporal variations in the physical environment, and biogeochemical cycles in the Southern Ocean.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) at the Goddard Space Flight Center for the production and distribution of satellite data. Thanks are also due to the captain and crews of the T/V Umitaka-Maru for their cooperation during the cruises. This work was supported in part by the JARE STAGE program, JSPS (KAKENHI 19255014 and 18067003), CEAMARC and JAXA GCOM-C program.

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Author notes

  1. Shintaro Takao

    Present address: Graduate School of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, North 10 West 5, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-0810, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, 3-1-1 Minato-cho, Hakodate, Hokkaido, 041-8611, Japan

    Toru Hirawake & Shintaro Takao

  2. Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, 4-5-7 Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-8477, Japan

    Naho Horimoto, Takashi Ishimaru & Yukuya Yamaguchi

  3. National Institute of Polar Research, 10-3 Midori-machi, Tachikawa, Tokyo, 190-8518, Japan

    Mitsuo Fukuchi

Authors
  1. Toru Hirawake
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  2. Shintaro Takao
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  3. Naho Horimoto
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  4. Takashi Ishimaru
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  5. Yukuya Yamaguchi
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  6. Mitsuo Fukuchi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Toru Hirawake.

Additional information

Satellite primary productivity model for the Southern Ocean.

Appendix

Appendix

To estimate PP eu using satellite data, a ph(λ) was derived by the Quasi-analytical algorithm (QAA) (Lee et al. 2002). Steps of the QAA are shown in Table 3. Appearance of the table and symbols are almost according to the original, thus a ph(λ) is written as a φ(λ). See Table 1 of Lee et al. (2002) concerning other symbols. Adjusted part is only Step 2 and coefficients of the math formula at the step are almost same as original values:

Table 3 Steps of the QAA (Lee et al. 2002) tuned to the Southern Ocean
Full size table
$$ a\left( { 5 5 5} \right) = 0.0 5 9 7+ 0. 2 1 { }[{ \exp }( - 2. 3- 1. 1\rho + 0. 3 4\rho^{ 2} ) - 0.0 1 $$
(13)

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Hirawake, T., Takao, S., Horimoto, N. et al. A phytoplankton absorption-based primary productivity model for remote sensing in the Southern Ocean. Polar Biol 34, 291–302 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-010-0949-y

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