Phytoplankton Light Absorption Impacted by Photoprotective Carotenoids in a Global Ocean Spectrally-Resolved Biogeochemistry Model

Abstract

The chlorophyll-specific absorption spectrum of phytoplankton (Formula presented.) multiplied with phytoplankton chlorophyll provides the total absorption coefficient of phytoplankton [(Formula presented.)], a fundamental quantity with significance in many marine biogeochemical (BGC) and environmental processes. Representing accurately the sources of variability of (Formula presented.) in BGC ocean models is a crucial task. The two main sources of variability in (Formula presented.) are changes in the pigment composition of the phytoplankton community and the size-dependent constraints to pigment packaging. Therefore, changes in community structure and physiological state impact (Formula presented.) and consequently (Formula presented.). The objective of this work is to improve estimates of (Formula presented.) in a BGC model of the global ocean by portraying the variability of (Formula presented.) driven by the variable content in photoprotective carotenoids (PPCs) in the phytoplankton community. We used a three-dimensional spectrally-resolved BGC model to simulate the inherent and apparent optical properties of the global ocean based on its content on optically active constituents. The (Formula presented.) for each phytoplankton type represented in the model were made variable as a function of the type-specific content in PPCs. By comparing model-derived (Formula presented.) to satellite retrievals and an extensive field data set of optical and BGC observations, we concluded that photoprotective pigments content impacted significantly the contribution of the (Formula presented.) to the total non-water absorption in the ocean. Pigment-impacted (Formula presented.) contributed to reproduce the global variability of (Formula presented.) as well as the observed bio-optical relationship between (Formula presented.) and chlorophyll. The improved representation of the (Formula presented.) of the phytoplankton community influenced model simulations in terms of water-leaving radiances.