A comparison of SeaWiFS LAC products from the third and fourth reprocessing: Northeast US ecosystem

Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

5-1-2003

Abstract

A comprehensive set of 2,524 LAC scenes of the northeast US continental shelf and adjacent waters scanned by SeaWiFS from 4 September 1997 to 11 November 2002 was processed using NASA standard algorithms and methods employed in the fourth reprocessing. Estimates of chlorophyll a concentration (Ca) and normalized water-leaving radiance (LWN) from the fourth reprocessing are statistically compared with results obtained previously from the third reprocessing. Chlorophyll a concentration from the fourth reprocessing is lower than those from the third reprocessing in Gulf Stream and Sargasso Sea waters, along the outer continental shelf and slope water, and over the deep basins in the Gulf of Maine. In nearshore shelf waters approximately less than 50 m, Ca from the third and fourth reprocessings are comparable, except over the shoal water on Georges Bank, Nantucket Shoals, and the northern nearshore Gulf of Maine, where Ca from the fourth reprocessing is approximately 1.1-1.2 times greater than Ca from the third reprocessing. The median LWN (412) and median LWN (443) from the fourth reprocessing are substantially greater than values from the third reprocessing, and the frequency of negative water-leaving radiances for the 412 nm and 443 nm bands is significantly lower with the fourth reprocessing. Statistical match-up comparisons between SeaWiFS Ca and in situ Ca indicate that the fourth reprocessing improved the accuracy of Ca estimates for this region.

Publication Title, e.g., Journal

NASA Technical Memorandum - SeaWIFS Postlaunch Technical Report Series

Issue

22

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