Estimation of chlorophyll-a concentration in waters over the continental shelf of the Bay of Biscay: a comparison of remote sensing algorithms

Abstract

Ocean colour imagery is used increasingly as a tool to assess water quality via chlorophyll-a concentration (chl-a) estimations in European waters. The Bay of Biscay is affected by major river discharges, which alter the constituents of the marine waters. Chlorophyll-a algorithms, designed for use at global scales, are less accurate due to the variability of optically active in-water constituents. Hence, regionally parameterized empirical algorithms are necessary. The main objective of the present study was to develop a regional algorithm to retrieve chl-a in surface water using in situ R-rs, for a subsequent application to Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) satellite images. To address this objective, a platform was developed initially and a measurement procedure adapted for the field HR4000CG Spectrometer. Subsequently, the procedure was tested during a survey over the south-eastern Bay of Biscay (North-East Atlantic Ocean), to establish a MERIS chl-a algorithm for the area, by comparing different global remote sensing chl-a algorithms, with band ratios. Results validated with the jackknife resampling procedure show a satisfactory relationship between the R-rs(510)/R-rs(560) and chl-a (R-jac(2) = 0.681). This ratio is better correlated to chl-a than those obtained with established chl-a remote sensing algorithms. High content in coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM > 0.4 m(-1)) and suspended particulate matter (SPM > 2.8 mg l(-1)) influenced this relationship, with yellow substances having a stronger effect.