Assessing Net Growth of Phytoplankton Biomass on Hourly to Annual Time Scales Using the Geostationary Ocean Color Instrument

Abstract

Questions of whether diurnal changes in carbon fixation affect the global carbon budget cannot be answered using the present generation of polar orbiting ocean color sensors that can only retrieve one image daily. Here, we present novel satellite-derived indices of chlorophyll-based production based on the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI), whose hourly imaging capability offer the potential for direct estimates of net phytoplankton growth over hourly to seasonal time scales. Our results reveal large variations in net chlorophyll growth in the GOCI study region, both over the day and between seasons. Hourly changes in chlorophyll concentration are highest during spring while growth rates show maxima during the winter. We show seasonal relationships between growth and photon flux. Our study suggests that Geostationary Ocean Color data can be used to constrain phytoplankton productivity on diurnal time scales and be an essential tool to better understand diurnal growth patterns over large spatial regions.