Light Absorption by Optically Active Components in the Arctic Region (August 2020) and the Possibility of Application to Satellite Products for Water Quality Assessment

• Published in: Remote Sensing
• Main Authors: Tatiana Efimova, Tatiana Churilova, Elena Skorokhod, Vyacheslav Suslin, Anatoly S. Buchelnikov, Dmitry Glukhovets, Aleksandr Khrapko, Natalia Moiseeva
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute 2023
• Subjects: total non-water spectral light absorption coefficients; chlorophyll a; light absorption parameterization; remote sensing; validation of satellite products; the Arctic Region; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Barents Sea; Norwegian Sea; The Sentinel; Phytoplankton
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15174346

In August 2020, during the 80th cruise of the R/V “Akademik Mstislav Keldysh”, the chlorophyll a concentration (Chl-a) and spectral coefficients of light absorption by phytoplankton pigments, non-algal particles (NAP) and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) were measured in the Norwegian Sea, the Barents Sea and the adjacent area of the Arctic Ocean. It was shown that the spatial distribution of the three light-absorbing components in the explored Arctic region was non-homogenous. It was revealed that CDOM contributed largely to the total non-water light absorption (atot(λ) = aph(λ) + aNAP(λ) + aCDOM(λ)) in the blue spectral range in the Arctic Ocean and the Barents Sea. The fraction of NAP in the total non-water absorption was low (less than 20%). The depth of the euphotic zone depended on atot(λ) in the surface water layer, which was described by a power equation. The Arctic Ocean, the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea did not differ in the Chl-a-specific light absorption coefficients of phytoplankton. In the blue maximum of phytoplankton absorption spectra, Chl-a-specific light absorption coefficients of phytoplankton in the upper mixed layer (UML) were higher than those below the UML. Relationships between phytoplankton absorption coefficients and Chl-a were derived by least squares fitting to power functions for the whole visible domain with a 1 nm interval. The OCI, OC3 and GIOP algorithms were validated using a database of co-located results (day-to-day) of in situ measurements (n = 63) and the ocean color scanner data: the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Terra (EOS AM) and Aqua (EOS PM) satellites, the Visible and Infrared Imager/Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (S-NPP) and JPSS-1 satellites (also known as NOAA-20), and the Ocean and the Land Color Imager (OLCI) onboard the Sentinel-3A and Sentinel-3B satellites. The comparison showed that despite the technological progress in optical scanners and the algorithms ...