Validation of satellite derived primary production models in the Northeast Atlantic

With all the variety of models used for calculation of primary production from remote sensing data, a choice of the most realistic one remains a non-trivial issue. The use of regional biological parameters additionally increases the degree of correspondence between a model and in-situ observations. In this work, we estimate primary production in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean in 1998-2005 using three frequently used models: Two models are based on the remotely measured chlorophyll-a concentration (VGPM and BIOM) and one on the remotely measured coefficient of light absorption by phytoplankton pigments (Aph-PP). The model results are further compared with in-situ observations of primary production in the area 20°-51° N and 10°-40° W. The primary production models use as the input level 3 Ocean Color data provided by the OC-CCI database (http://www.esa-oceancolour-cci.org). Photosynthetic model parameters are taken from experimental measurements of phytoplankton photosynthetic efficiency under different light con