SATELLITE-DERIVED BIOPHYSICAL PROVINCES: TOOLS FOR OBJECTIVE INVESTIGATIONS OF MARINE ECOSYSTEMS

KAVANAUGH, M. T., LETELIER, R. M., SARACENO, M., SPITZ, Y. H., VENEGAS, R. M., ZIRBEL, M. J.

Orlando, Florida, EEUU

Congreso; Ocean Science Meeting; 2008

If the structure of marine ecological systems is constrained by physical forcing, biophysical provinces- defined as regions displaying coherent patterns in physical forcing and biological response, may emerge as quasi-stable properties of regional and global oceans. Furthermore, biophysical provinces provide an appropriate range over which to spatially extrapolate physical and biochemical processes that have been characterized at discrete locations. However, there remains a considerable need for the development of objective mapping of dynamical biophysical provinces in the major regions of the global oceans to facilitate comparative analyses of ecosystem dynamics and to predict their resilience to global climate change. Using monthly climatologies of SST, PAR, and Chl a , we have established dynamic biophysical provinces in the subarctic and subtropical eastern North Pacific using a probabilistic derivation of the Kohonen neural network. In this presentation we will discuss preliminary efforts to compare these provinces to those derived from alternative methods, validate them with in situ data (flow cytometry, 14C productivity, PAM fluorescence, and ac-meters), and address the role of data resolution on the spatiotemporal variability of provincial boundaries.