Abstract

QUISPE, Daniel, CALIENES, Ruth, TAM, Jorge et al. Comparative analysis between satellite and in situ chlorophyll-a in the peruvian upwelling ecosystem, between 1998 - 2007. Ecol. apl., July/Dec. 2010, vol.9, no.2, p.151-159. ISSN 1726-2216.

The Peruvian upwelling ecosystem has a high spatial and temporal variability in its primary production that could be inferred from in situ and satellite observations of chlorophyll. The differences between in situ (Cla_i) from IMARPE and satellite chlorophyll-a (Cla_s) from SeaWiFS data were studied using spatial and temporal coincident values, to know the relationship between Cla_i and Cla_s values from a simple linear regression model. Also, the goodness of fit between both observations during each season was calculated using the square root mean error. The hypothesis was that the Cla_s observations overestimated the Cla_i values and that in summer there is a better goodness of fit between Cla_i and Cla_s data, compared to other seasons. The general equation obtained relating both variables was: Cla_i = 0.9925 Cla_s ^0.9055. The goodness of fit between both data sources with a log10 transformation was higher in spring (r = 0.84, RCME = 0.31) than in summer (r = 0.82, RCME = 0.33). The chlorophyll-a was overestimated in summer and fall, while it was underestimated in winter and spring by SeaWiFS satellite.

Keywords: chlorophyll-a; SeaWiFS; regression model; upwelling; Perú.