ESTIMATORS OF PRIMARY PRODUCTION FOR INTERPRETATION OF REMOTELY-SENSED DATA ON OCEAN COLOR

The theoretical basis is explained for some commonly used estimators o f daily primary production in a vertically uniform water column. These models are recast into a canonical form. with dimensionless arguments , to facilitate comparison with each other and with an analytic soluti on. The limitations of each model are examined. The values of the phot oadaptation parameter I(k) observed in the ocean arc analyzed, and I(k ) is used as a scale to normalize the surface irradiance. The range of this scaled irradiance is presented.- An equation is given for estima tion of I(k) from recent light history. It is shown how the models for water column production can be adapted for estimation of the producti on in finite layers. The distinctions between model formulation, model implementation and model evaluation arc discussed. Recommendations ar e given on the choice of algorithm for computation of daily production according to the degree of approximation acceptable in the result.