Calibrating Remotely Sensed Ocean Chlorophyll Data: An Application of the Blending Technique in Three Dimensions (3D)

Abstract

In this article, the extension to three dimensions (3D) of the blending technique that has been widely used in two dimensions (2D) to calibrate ocean chlorophyll is presented. The results thus obtained revealed a very high degree of efficiency when predicting observed values of ocean chlorophyll. The mean squared difference between the predicted and observed values of ocean chlorophyll when 3D technique was used fell far below the tolerance level which was set to the difference between satellite and observed in-situ values. The resulting blended field did not only provide better predictions of the in situ observations in areas where bottle samples cannot be obtained but also provided a smooth variation of the distribution of ocean chlorophyll throughout the year. An added advantage is its computational efficiency since data that would have been treated at least four times would be treated only once. With the advent of these results, it is believed that the modelling of the ocean life cycle will become more realistic.