Title Southern Benguela shelf and open ocean seasonal mean microphytoplankton proportion time series, 1997 to 2018
Project Bio-optical Investigation of Phytoplankton
Authors

Tarron Lamont
Oceans and Coastal Research, Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) Marine Scientist 2nd Floor, Foretrust Building, 1 Martin Hammerschlag Way, Cape Town, South Africa, tarron.lamont@gmail.com

R.G. Barlow
Bayworld Centre for Research and Education Marine Scientist 5 Riesling Road, Constantia, Cape Town, South Africa, rgb.barlow@gmail.com

R.J.W. Brewin
Plymouth Marine Laboratory Marine Scientist Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Prospect Place, The Hoe, Plymouth PL1 3DH, United Kingdom, robr@pml.ac.uk

Publisher Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (2019)
Contributors

Contact Person: Tarron Lamont
Oceans and Coastal Research, Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) Marine Scientist 2nd Floor, Foretrust Building, 1 Martin Hammerschlag Way, Cape Town, South Africa, tarron.lamont@gmail.com

Abstract Reconstructed seasonal mean microphytoplankton proportion for SeaWiFS and MODIS-Aqua in the Southern Benguela (29-34.3°S;12-18.5°E) shelf and open ocean regions during austral summer, autumn, winter, and spring. Shelf and open ocean regions have been separated using the GEBCO 1000m isobath.
Methods A phytoplankton size-class model (Lamont et al. 2018, RSE 204, 617-631) was applied to standard monthly-averaged SeaWiFS and MODIS-Aqua Chlorophyll a concentrations, with a spatial resolution of 9km, to compute fractional contributions of microphytoplankton to the total chlorophyll a in Southern Benguela shelf and open ocean regions. The shelf and open ocean regions were separated using the 1000m GEBCO isobath. Seasonal means were computed by averaging data over a three-month period for each season, defined as austral summer (December, January, February), autumn (March, April, May), winter (June, July, August), and spring (September, October, November). Using the MODIS-Aqua data as the reference dataset, the SeaWiFS values were reconstructed (predicted) within the framework of a Generalized Linear Model, in order to remove the systematic bias between SeaWiFS and MODIS-Aqua values. This data has been processed and published as Lamont et al. (2019) JGR Oceans, 124, 1170-1195 (https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JC014334) - please see this paper for a more detailed methodology.
Data
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Temporal extent 01 Jan 1997 – 01 Jan 2018
Geographic extent

Southern Benguela, Benguela Upwelling, South African West Coast, South East Atlantic Ocean

North: -29.0
South: -34.3
West: 12.0
East: 18.5

Keywords Agulhas and Somali Current Large Marine Ecosystems, ASCLME, BCLME, Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem, bio-optics, microphytoplankton, phytoplankton biomass, remote sensing, SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN, Southern Benguela
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