An assessment of chlorophyll-a algorithms available for SeaWiFS in coastal and open areas of the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea

Three ocean colour algorithms, OC4v6, Carder and OC5 were tested for retrieving Chlorophyll-a (Chla) in coastal areas of the Bay of Bengal and open ocean areas of the Arabian Sea. Firstly, the algorithms were run using ~ 80 in situ Remote Sensing Reflectance, (Rrs(λ)) data collected from coastal areas during eight cruises from January 2000 to March 2002 and the output was compared to in situ Chla. Secondly, the algorithms were run with ~ 20 SeaWiFS Rrs(λ) and the results were compared with coincident in situ Chla. In both cases, OC5 exhibited the lowest log10-RMS, bias, had a slope close to 1 and this algorithm appears to be the most accurate for both coastal and open ocean areas. Thirdly the error in the algorithms was regressed against Total Suspended Material (TSM) and Coloured Dissolved Organic Material (CDOM) data to assess the co-variance with these parameters. The OC5 error did not co-vary with TSM and CDOM. OC4v6 tended to over-estimate Chla > 2 mg m−3 and the error in OC4v6 co-varied with TSM. OC4v6 was more accurate than the Carder algorithm, which over-estimated Chla at concentrations > 1 mg m−3 and under-estimated Chla at values < 0.5 mg m−3. The error in Carder Chla also co-varied with TSM. The algorithms were inter-compared using > 5500 SeaWiFS Rrs(λ) data from coastal to offshore transects in the Northern Bay of Bengal. There was good agreement between OC4v6 and OC5 in open ocean waters and in coastal areas up to 2 mg m−3. There was a strong divergence between Carder and OC5 in open ocean and coastal waters. OC4v6 and Carder tended to over-estimate Chla in coastal areas by a factor of 2 to 3 when TSM > 25 g m−3. We strongly recommend the use of OC5 for coastal and open ocean waters of the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea. A Chla time series was generated using OC5 from 2000 to 2003, which showed that concentrations at the mouths of the Ganges reach a maxima (~ 5 mg m−3) in October and November and were 0.08 mg m−3 further offshore increasing to 0.2 mg m−3 during December. Similarly in early spring from February to March, Chla was 0.08 to 0.2 mg m−3 on the east coast of the Bay.