POSTER Session 2

UNVEILING COASTAL PHYTOPLANKTON DYNAMICS: REFINING ABSORPTION-BASED ALGORITHMS THROUGH TARA EUROPA EXPEDITION DATA INTEGRATION

Phytoplankton are crucial for marine ecosystems, driving trophic dynamics and biogeochemical cycles, with significant implications for global climate regulation. Despite advancements in bio-optical algorithms for determining phytoplankton community composition (PCC), uncertainties persist in their application to coastal waters. This study aims to assess and parameterize existing absorption-based bio-optical algorithms for the retrieval of PCC. These algorithms must be adapted to account for unique optical characteristics of coastal waters, which are shaped by biogeochemical processes affecting the composition of particulate and dissolved matter. By enhancing the precision of phytoplankton pigment concentration measurements, this method aims to provide a clearer understanding of changes in phytoplankton communities and the environmental factors influencing them. Given the pivotal role of satellite data in studying large-scale ecological dynamics, optimization of bio-optical algorithms with hyperspectral optical data is essential for enhancing accuracy and validating recent data provided by the current ocean color missions and hyperspectral satellite missions such as EnMAP, PACE, and PRISMA. Thus, to address the uncertainties surrounding the application of bio-optical algorithms to coastal waters, this study leveraged the comprehensive dataset collected during the Tara Europa expedition with the integration of HPLC measurements, phytoplankton absorption, and IFCB data collected in 2023 at 100 stations. This dataset facilitates the identification of discrepancies between algorithm-derived pigment concentrations and in situ measurements, revealing the influence of bio-optical variability of particulate and dissolved matter and physiological factors on absorption spectra, alongside pigment composition.

*Margherita Costanzo, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy, https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3583-7843

Vittorio Brando, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Scienze Marine (CNR ISMAR), Italy

Christian Marchese, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Scienze Marine (CNR ISMAR), Italy

Emmanuel Boss, University of Maine, USA

David Doxaran, Laboratoire Océanographie Villefranche, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)/SU, France

Chiara Santinelli, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Institute of Biophysics (CNR IBF), Italy

Alison Chase, Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, USA

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