HR: 0800h
AN: OS51A-1288    [Abstracts]
TI: Assimilation of global satellite ocean chlorophyll data: Prospects and Issues
AU: * Gregg, W
EM: watson.gregg@nasa.gov
AB: Initial efforts at assimilating satellite ocean chlorophyll data into a global three-dimensional coupled physical/biogeochemical model have indicated promising results. Assimilated chlorophyll fields compare favorably with Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor data. Compared to the Vertically Generalized Production Model, global primary production estimates improve from a 19% difference in the free run model to 10% with the assimilation model. Thus the assimilation dramatically improves estimates of biomass, but less so estimates of carbon flux. Additionally, surface nutrient distributions are less realistic is some areas, due to an imbalance between chlorophyll and nutrients caused by the assimilation. Data errors in SeaWiFS are a particularly important problem that adversely affects both the assimilation and the quantification of results.
DE: 4805 Biogeochemical cycles (1615)
DE: 4815 Ecosystems, structure and dynamics
DE: 4842 Modeling
SC: Ocean Sciences [OS]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting