Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecology from Space

Shubha Sathyendranath
Plymouth Marine Laboratory, United Kingdom

The pelagic ecosystem is an open, dissipative system, and light is the external source of energy that sustains ocean biogeochemistry and maintains the bulk of the ocean biosphere. Satellite technology (commonly referred to as ocean colour) can measure the quantity and spectral quality of light reaching the sea surface, and also monitor how well this energy source is coupled to the biosphere through phytoplankton pigments, notably the pigment chlorophyll-a, which is central to marine photosynthesis. This powerful observational tool, when combined with appropriate physiological models, provides the means to explore ocean biogeochemistry and ecology at the global scale, with unparalleled temporal and spatial resolution, and over a long period. The current uninterrupted, climate-quality time series of ocean-colour data and products start from 1997 and plans are in place for continued observations for decades into the future. At the same time, the ocean-colour technology has been improving steadily, along with the theoretical and empirical underpinning of methodologies for interpretation of the data, such that there is a growing potential for expanding the portfolio of satellite-derived estimates of biogeochemical and ecological pools and fluxes. The goal of this project is to develop novel satellite-based products, and improve existing products on ocean biogeochemistry and marine ecology.

Working with ecosystem modellers, mathematicians, statisticians, ecologists and molecular biologists in CBIOMES allows us to focus on the same problem from multiple perspectives, to reconcile differences, and improve our understanding of the structure and function of the marine biosphere, in particular the microbial pool, consistent with the overall goals of CBIOMES.