Global Distribution of the Random Uncertainty Associated with Satellite Derived Chla

• Published in: IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters
• Main Author: MELIN Frederic
• Language: English
• Published: IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC 2010
• Subjects: Arctic; Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC53959; https://doi.org/10.1109/LGRS.2009.2031825

The comparison of coincident daily records of the concentration of chlorophyll a (Chla) derived from SeaWiFS and MODIS can provide the distribution of the standard deviation sigma associated with the zero-mean random component of the uncertainty budget. The proposed approach does not quantify the bias characterizing the Chla satellite product but it is spatially and temporally resolved and thus appears as a useful complement to validation exercises with in situ data. The global median of sigma is equal to 0.074 for log-transformed Chla. Values of sigma around or larger than 0.1 are found in a significant part of the ocean, including the centers of the subtropical gyres, some Arctic and Antarctic areas or eastern boundary upwelling regions. In general, sigma increases at the low and high ends of the Chla range whereas it is lowest in the interval 0.1-0.3 mg m^-3. JRC.DDG.H.3 - Global environement monitoring