International audienceIn situ optical measurements provide evidence that oligotrophic waters of the Mediterranean Sea have a greener color than would result from their phytoplankton content alone. This anomaly, detectable in low chlorophyll waters, remains unnoticed in the chlorophyll-rich waters of the nearby waters of the Moroccan upwelling zone. It is due to enhanced absorption in the blue and enhanced backscattering in the green parts of the visible spectrum likely resulting from the presence of submicron Saharan dust in suspension within the upper layer. This result implies that regional estimations of carbon fixation from ocean color images might be significantly overestimated, not only in the Mediterranean Sea, but also in other oligotrophic areas of the Northern hemisphere, subjected to desert dust deposition

To examine the source and magnitude of the variability of bio-optical properties in open ocean, we simultaneously measured inherent optical properties (IOPs) and biogeochemical quantities during late summer from the eutrophic waters of the Moroccan upwelling to the oligotrophic waters of the northwestern Mediterranean and the ultraoligotrophic waters of the eastern Mediterranean. Vertical distributions of spectral absorption and attenuation coefficients were measured with a high-resolution in situ spectrophotometer (WETLabs ac9) together with biogeochemical measurements that included phytoplanktonic pigments and particulate organic carbon concentrations, particle size distributions, and picoplankton abundance. The variability in specific IOPs (i.e., per unit of biogeochemical constituent concentration) was examined, and an optical index of particle size was derived. The fine-scale vertical distributions of various biogeochemical properties were thus described from ac9 profiles. Particle attenuation and carbon budgets, estimated from a combination of optical and biogeochemical measurements, underlie a major contribution of nonalgal stocks in oceanic waters. We show that first-order variations in IOPs in oceanic waters are explained by the trophic state (i.e., chlorophyll a concentration) and that second-order variations are the result of changes in the composition of phytoplankton assemblage, the balance between algal and nonalgal stocks, and lightrelated processes (colored dissolved organic material photo-oxidation and algal photo-adaptation).

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[1] Inshore estuarine, lagoonal, and reef waters of the Great Barrier Reef (Australia) were sampled between 2002 and 2005 during four dry and one wet tropical seasons. Relationships among three biogeochemical concentrations and five key water optical parameters measured at 129 stations were explored to optically characterize six predefined regions. A significant spatial and seasonal variability in some of the inherent optical properties and concentrations measured was found, reaching over two orders of magnitude in the estuaries. Total suspended solids concentrations ranged from 0.5 to $54 mg L À1 , TChl-a ranged from 0.05 to $9 mg m À3 , color dissolved organic matter (CDOM) ranged from 0.004 to 0.8 m À1 at 440 nm, and the backscattering coefficient ranged from 0.001 to 1.18 m À1 at 555 nm. Our data set was mainly composed of coastal stations (95%), leading to a poor correlation between the three concentrations (R 2 < 0.31). The range of variation in backscattering ratios, power law exponents, and the spectral slopes of CDOM and nonalgal particulate matter is comparable with findings from other coastal and open waters around the world. The empirical relationships between TChl-a and a ph (440) were found to differ from reference models, indicating differences in phytoplankton size structure and populations. High variability in backscattering ratios and associated power law exponents as well as particulate absorption ratios indicated different trends or relationships in particle size and composition between the different regions. Stations close to the reef matrix showed specific characteristics with concentrations typical of oceanic waters but CDOM spectral slopes similar to those of coastal environments.