Pan-Arctic optical characteristics of colored dissolved organic matter: Tracing dissolved organic carbon in changing Arctic waters using satellite ocean color data

Abstract

Light absorption of the colored fraction of dissolved organic matter (CDOM) is a dominant optical component of the Arctic Ocean (AO). Here we show Pan-Arctic characteristics of CDOM light absorption for various Arctic regions covering both coastal and oceanic waters during the Tara Oceans Polar Circle expedition. The Siberian (or eastern) side of the AO is characterized by higher CDOM absorption values compared to the North American (or western) side. This is due to the difference in watersheds between the eastern and western sides of the AO and is consistent with an Arctic absorption database recently built by Matsuoka et al. (2014). A direct comparison between in situ and satellite data demonstrates that CDOM absorption is derived Arctic-wide from satellite ocean color data with an average uncertainty of 12% (root mean square error of 0.3m−1) using our previously published algorithm. For river-influenced coastal waters, we found a single and highly significant relationship between concentrations of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and CDOM absorption (r2>0.94) covering major Arctic river mouths. By applying this in situ relationship to satellite-derived CDOM absorption, DOC concentrations in the surface waters are estimated for river-influenced coastal waters with an average uncertainty of 28%. Implications for the monitoring of DOC concentrations in Arctic coastal waters are discussed.