| Summary: | Remote sensing observations can be used as forcing data into biogeochemical models. We can mention amongst those data the solar Irradiance at sea surface, as derived from METEOSAT visible imagery, and the inorganic Suspended Particulate Matter, SPM, which can be derived from the SeaWiFS or MODIS marine reflectance. These quantities are all essential in modelling the irradiance available for the photosynthesis in the water column over the continental shelf. Chlorophyll concentration maps can be used for validating the biogeochemical models or for assimilation and a better estimation of key biological parameters. Doing so, biologists generalize the procedures already applied by physical oceanographers who use satellite SST maps to validate the outputs of their physical models. As for other domains related to the environmental and climatic change, the remote sensing data are essential for monitoring the variability of the coastal seas. In the different browsers developed at IFREMER, satellite derived chlorophyll and inorganic SPM are associated to the in situ measurements provided by the conventional networks (SOMLIT/CNRS/INSU), REPHY (IFREMER). Three browsers are now available at IFREMER providing SST (AVHRR / SAF Ocean and Sea Ice and the decadal climatology NOAA-SAF), chlorophyll and inorganic SPM concentrations (derived form SeaWiFS and MODIS) for the English
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