Evaluation of Ocean Color Remote Sensing Algorithms for Diffuse Attenuation Coefficients and Optical Depths with Data Collected on BGC-Argo Floats

• Main Authors: Xiaogang Xing, Emmanuel Boss, Jie Zhang, Fei Chai
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-07-01
• Series: Remote Sensing
• Subjects: diffuse attenuation coefficient; satellite product assessment; euphotic layer depth; isolume depth
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/15/2367

The vertical distribution of irradiance in the ocean is a key input to quantify processes spanning from radiative warming, photosynthesis to photo-oxidation. Here we use a novel dataset of thousands local-noon downwelling irradiance at 490 nm (E_d(490)) and photosynthetically available radiation (PAR) profiles captured by 103 BGC-Argo floats spanning nearly three years (from October 2012 to January 2016) in the world’s ocean, to evaluate several published algorithms and satellite products related to diffuse attenuation coefficient (K_d). Our results show: 1) MODIS-Aqua K_d(490) products derived from a blue-to-green algorithm and two semi-analytical algorithms show good consistency with the float-observed values, but the Chla-based one has overestimation in oligotrophic waters; 2) The K_d(PAR) model based on the Inherent Optical Properties (IOPs) performs well not only at sea-surface but also at depth, except for the oligotrophic waters where K_d(PAR) is underestimated below two penetration depth (2z_pd), due to the model’s assumption of a homogeneous distribution of IOPs in the water column which is not true in most oligotrophic waters with deep chlorophyll-a maxima; 3) In addition, published algorithms for the 1% euphotic-layer depth and the depth of 0.415 mol photons m⁻² d⁻¹isolume are evaluated. Algorithms based on Chla generally work well while IOPs-based ones exhibit an overestimation issue in stratified and oligotrophic waters, due to the underestimation of K_d(PAR) at depth.