Comparative Analysis Between Satellite And In Situ Chlorophyll-A In The Peruvian Upwelling Ecosystem, Between 1998-2007

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 Clai and Clas 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 Clas observations overestimated the Clai values and that in summer there is a better goodness of fit between Clai and Clas 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 log(10) 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.