Chlorophyll dynamics off Point Reyes, California

Mati Kahru, mkahru@ucsd.edu

· This is a “quick-and-easy” exercise that shows what can be done in about 20 minutes or less. It uses the 1-km mapped SeaWiFS chlorophyll data as reported in “SeaWiFS time series for the California current”. The 15-day composites of SeaWiFS standard OC4v4 chlorophyll are remapped to a map shown below using a backdrop of quasi-true color (RGB) for land, the 200-m isobath shown as a dark curve, overlaid coastline and chlorophyll concentration color scale (in mg, m^-3). The example below is for Jan 1-15, 2003. The pixels adjacent to land (black) have been masked out by the standard SeaWiFS processing.

· The window below shows all 15-day overlapping composites for 2003 in a loop (an animated GIF). Pixels with missing data are the occasional black areas. The 15-day composites actually overlap by 10 days at either side, i.e. the composited periods are days 1-15, 6-20, 11-25, etc. Visual inspection shows some questionable features that are probably errors due to cloud edges or other disturbances. No special treatment was attempted in this quick exercise.

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