The effect of phytoplankton pigment composition and packaging on the retrieval of chlorophyll-a concentration from satellite observations in the Southern Ocean

The Antarctic waters are known to be optically unique and the standard empirical ocean colour algorithms applied to these waters may not address the regional bio-optical characteristics. This article sheds light on the performance of current empirical algorithms and a regionally optimized algorithm (ROA) for the retrieval of chlorophyll- a (chl- a) concentration from Aqua-Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Aqua-MODIS) and Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) in the Indian Ocean Sector of Southern Ocean (IOSO). Analysis indicated that empirical algorithms used for the retrieval of chl- a concentration from Aqua-MODIS and SeaWiFS underestimate by a factor varying from 2 to 2.9, resulting in underestimation when in situ chl- a exceeds about 0.3 mg m ⁻³. To explain these uncertainties, a study was carried out to understand the effect of phytoplankton pigment composition and pigment packaging on remote-sensing reflectance (R ᵣₛ,λ), from the analysis of phytoplankton-specific absorption coefficient (a ₚₕ,* λ). The spatial variation of phytoplankton groups analysed using diagnostics pigments (DP) indicated shifting of the phytoplankton community structure from offshore to coastal Antarctic, with a significant increasing trend for diatoms and a decreasing trend for haptophytes population. The diatom-dominated population exhibits lower a ₚₕ,* λ in the 405–510 nm region (with relative flattening in 443–489 nm) compared with the a ₚₕ,* λ spectra of the haptophytes-dominated population that peaks near 443 nm. The flattening of a ₚₕ,* λ spectra for the diatom-dominated population was attributed to its larger cell size, which leads to pigment packaging (intracellular shading) and in turn results in higher R ᵣₛ,λ. The relationship between pigment composition (normalized by chl- a) and blue:green absorption band ratios (a ₚₕ,* ₄₄₃: a ₚₕ,* ₅₅₅ and a ₚₕ,* ₄₈₉: a ₚₕ,* ₅₅₅) corresponding to the Aqua-MODIS and SeaWiFS bands showed in-phase associations with most of the pigments such as 19ʹ-hexanoyloxyfucoxanthin, 19ʹ-butanoyloxyfucoxanthin, peridinin, and zeaxanthin. In contrast, the out-of-phase association observed between the blue:green absorption ratios and fucoxanthin indicated apparent deviations from the general pigment retrieval algorithms, which assumes that blue:green ratios vary in a systematic form with chl- a . The out-of-phase correspondence suggests that the increasing trend of fucoxanthin pigments towards the Antarctic coast was associated with the decreasing trend of blue:green absorption ratios and in turn results in higher R ᵣₛ,λ. Therefore, an increase in R ᵣₛ,λ leads to underestimation of chl- a from Aqua-MODIS and SeaWiFS in the IOSO region.