Satellite estimates of phytoplankton primary production at santos bight, southwestern-south Atlantic: Comparison of algorithms

This study provides a satellite-based estimate of potential primary production in the Brazilian Southeast coast from in situ and Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) ocean color data. A non-spectral and vertically homogeneous semi-analytical algorithm and a spectral vertically non-homogeneous numerical algorithm were applied to the satellite ocean color data, which incorporate simultaneously measured in situ photosynthetic parameters. A vertically generalized production model was also tested. The best performing ocean color remote sensing primary productivity algorithm tested agreed with the ¹⁴C-based estimates within a factor of 2.