Octs-Derived Chlorophyll-A Concentration And Oceanic Structure in the Kuroshio Frontal Region off the Joban/Kashima Coast of Japan

摘要

As a preliminary study on the use of OCTS chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) maps for fisheries and oceanographic studies, version 3.0 OCTS Chl-a products were validated by comparison with sea surface Chl-a data in teh temperate coastal Pacific waters east of Japan during April to June 1997. These results suggest that the algorithm needs to be improved, especially for high Chl-a concentration iin coastal areas. OCTS images depicted detailed Chl-a distributions associated with the hydrography and current field. The high Chl-a frontal eddies near the crest of the Kuroshio Extension(KE) off the Japanese coast might be caused by a combination of advection of the KE front and upwelling due to a counterclockwise eddy. Fishing groundds during this period were often distributed in and around the high Chl-a area. OCTs Chl-a images are useful to understand the detailed biological processes.