PROBLEMS IN THE MESOSCALE INTERPRETATION OF SATELLITE CHLOROPHYLL DATA

The satellite data for the North Sea show significant differences from in situ measurements when analysed in terms of variance as a function of spatial scale. It seems likely that various factors in the instrum ent and in the data processing could produce changes in this variance distribution particularly at small scales (large wave numbers) of the order of 1-10 km. For these reasons, it appears inappropriate to use t he satellite data to infer conclusions about plankton dynamics in the meso-scale range without reference to in situ data.