IFES-GCOE Global COE Program "Establishment of Center for Integrated Field Environmental Science"
Graduate School of Environmental Science & Division of Environmental Resources, Graduate School of Agriculture
Hokkaido University

Call for Participants for "EES Seminar"


Global Quantitative Observation of Various Phytoplankton Groups
from Space by Analysis of Hyper-Spectral Satellite Data

Date:November 21st,  2011, Monday 17:00~18:00
Place: Graduate School Of Environmental Science,  Room  D201

Title:Global Quantitative Observation of Various Phytoplankton Groups
from Space by Analysis of Hyper-Spectral Satellite Data

Presenter:Dr. Astrid Bracher
Research of Alfred Wegener Institute(AWI), Germany and Visiting Professor of Bremen University)

Chair:Assistant Prof. Taka Hirata (Graduate School Of Environmental Science)

Abstract:Quantitative distribution of major functional phytoplankton types
(PFTs) of the world ocean improves the understanding of the role of
marine phytoplankton in the global marine ecosystem and biogeochemical
cycles. Because phytoplankton pigments absorb light for photosynthesis,
satellite sensors detecting the ocean color can monitor phytoplankton on
the global scale with reasonable spatial and temporal resolution. The
analysis of hyper-spectral satellite data with PhytoDOAS, a method of
Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) currently
specialized for SCIAMACHY (Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for
Atmospheric Cartography) on ENVISAT (details in Bracher et al. 2009,
Sadegi et al. 2011), enables to extract the optical signature of marker
pigments specific for certain PFTs. With including the calculation of
the light penetration depth derived from the retrieval of inelastic
scattering, the biomass (chl-a) of the PFTs is calculated and data from
2002-2011 have been processed. The lecture will give insight on the
retrieval method and show the global maps of PFT distribution of four
different dominant PFTs (diatoms, cyanobacteria, coccolithophores,
dinoflagellates). In addition, results of evaluating the PHYTODOAS PFT
products with in-situ data obtained from collocated pigment water
samples analyzed via HPLC, with other satellite and model PFT products
will be shown. The use of these global PFT satellite data sets for
studying PFT bloom dynamics in specific oceanic regions or for
evaluating an ecosystem model will be presented.

References:

Bracher A., Vountas M., Dinter T., Burrows J.P., Rottgers R., Peeken I.
(2009) Quantitative observation of cyanobacteria and diatoms from space
using PhytoDOAS on SCIAMACHY data. Biogeosciences 6: 751-764

Sadeghi A., Dinter T., Vountas M., Taylor B., Peeken I., Bracher A.
Improvements to PhytoDOAS method for identification of major
phytoplankton groups using high spectrally resolved satellite data.
Ocean Sciences (submitted)


Global COE Program "Establishment of Center for Integrated Field Environmental Science" at Hokkaido University