Satellite remote sensing of ultraviolet irradiance on the ocean surface

Abstract

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation has a significant influence on marine biological processes and primary productivity; however, the existing ocean color satellite sensors seldom contain UV bands. A look-up table of wavelength-integrated UV irradiance (280–400 nm) on the sea surface is established using the coupled ocean atmosphere radiative transfer (COART) model. On the basis of the look-up table, the distributions of the UV irradiance at middle and low latitudes are inversed by using the satellite-derived atmospheric products from the Aqua satellite, including aerosol optical thickness at 550 nm, ozone content, liquid water path, and the total precipitable water. The validation results show that the mean relative difference of the 10 d rolling averaged UV irradiance between the satellite retrieval and field observations is 8.20% at the time of satellite passing and 13.95% for the daily dose of UV. The monthly-averaged UV irradiance and daily dose of UV retrieved by satellite data show a good correlation with the in situ data, with mean relative differences of 6.87% and 8.43%, respectively. The sensitivity analysis of satellite inputs is conducted. The liquid water path representing the condition of cloud has the highest effect on the retrieval of the UV irradiance, while ozone and aerosol have relatively lesser effect. The influence of the total precipitable water is not significant. On the basis of the satellite-derived UV irradiance on the sea surface, a preliminary simple estimation of ultraviolet radiation’s effects on the global marine primary productivity is presented, and the results reveal that ultraviolet radiation has a non-negligible effect on the estimation of the marine primary productivity.