セクションアウトライン

    •  It is extremely important to estimate the primary production of phytoplankton when considering the carbon cycle in the ocean. The increase of seawater temperature associated with global warming in recent years is thought to affect the primary productivity of the ocean. However, the conventional primary productivity estimation method uses sea surface temperature as an input variable, and it is difficult to correctly discuss the change in primary production due to global warming. Therefore, we designed a method of estimating primary production using the light absorption coefficient of phytoplankton, which is a parameter independent of seawater temperatures.


      　　　　Figure. (a) Basic production estimated by the method based on the light absorption coefficient, (b) basic production estimated by the conventional method, and (c) difference between a and b.

    • Hirawake et al., 2011, Polar Biology URL