Temporal and Spatial Variability in the Ocean Color Data of the Long Island Sound Region

Time series in-situ hyper- and multi- spectral water leaving radiance data obtained from the Long Island Sound Coastal Observatory (LISCO) has been extensively utilized for the monitoring and validation of the current satellite Ocean Color missions, to improve the retrieval algorithms in the processing of normalized water leaving radiance, and to identify the uncertainties in the in-situ above water measurements. In this study, the LISCO's data together with the imagery data obtained from the Ocean Color satellite sensors, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) was employed to analyze the spatial and temporal variability in the Ocean Color data, particularly chlorophyll_a concentration which is an indicator of the phytoplankton biomass of the Long Island Sound region. Chlorophyll concentration of the LISCO location and the whole Long Island Sound is estimated from in-situ and satellite retrieved remote sensing reflectance values using the OC3 algorithm. Spatial distributions of chlorophyll concentration data in the Long Island Sound region are examined. Time series analyses are also conducted for both LISCO location and the whole Long Island Sound in order to evaluate the seasonal trends in the chlorophyll concentration data of the region.