VERTICAL STRUCTURE OF PRODUCTIVITY AND ITS VERTICAL INTEGRATION AS DERIVED FROM REMOTELY-SENSED OBSERVATIONS

A method for predicting oceanic productivity from remotely sensed diff use attenuation (488 nm) and surface chlorophyll concentration is pres ented. The method uses a climatological approach which consists of app lying a set of regressions for each region and season to yield the dep th of the chlorophyll maximum, the exponential slope of the chlorophyl l profile, and the depths of various irradiance levels from the remote ly sensed diffuse attenuation coefficient at 488 nm. These parameters, combined with the remotely sensed surface chlorophyll concentration a nd a model of quantum efficiency vs. irradiance, yield a vertical prof ile of productivity. This profile can be numerically integrated or dir ectly integrated piecewise with a logarithmic approximation for the qu antum efficiency model and a piecewise linear relationship of total ir radiance and irradiance at 488 nm. The results favorably compare with productivity profiles calculated from direct measurements of chlorophy ll and irradiance for a meridional transect of the North Pacific Ocean .