Ocean color measured from satellites provides daily global, synoptic views of spectral waterleaving reflectances that can be used to generate estimates of marine inherent optical properties (IOPs). These reflectances, namely the ratio of spectral upwelled radiances to spectral downwelled irradiances, describe the light exiting a water mass that defines its color. IOPs are the spectral absorption and scattering characteristics of ocean water and its dissolved and particulate constituents. Because of their dependence on the concentration and composition of marine constituents, IOPs can be used to describe the contents of the upper ocean mixed layer. This information is critical to further our scientific understanding of biogeochemical oceanic processes, such as organic carbon production and export, phytoplankton dynamics, and responses to climatic disturbances. Given their importance, the international ocean color community has invested significant effort in improving the quality of satellite-derived IOP products, both regionally and globally. Recognizing the current influx of data products into the community and the need to improve current algorithms in anticipation of new satellite instruments (e.g., the global, hyperspectral spectroradiometer of the NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission), we present a synopsis of the current state of the art in the retrieval of these core optical properties. Contemporary approaches for obtaining IOPs from satellite ocean color are reviewed and, for clarity, separated based their inversion methodology or the type of IOPs sought. Summaries of known uncertainties associated with each approach are provided, as well as common performance metrics used to evaluate them. We discuss current knowledge gaps and make recommendations for future investment for upcoming missions whose instrument characteristics diverge sufficiently from heritage and existing sensors to warrant reassessing current approaches.

We used the NASA Ocean Biogeochemical Model (NOBM) combined with remote sensing data via assimilation to evaluate the contribution of four phytoplankton groups to the total primary production. First, we assessed the contribution of each phytoplankton groups to the total primary production at a global scale for the period 1998–2011. Globally, diatoms contributed the most to the total phytoplankton production (~50%, the equivalent of ~20 PgC∙y⁻¹). Coccolithophores and chlorophytes each contributed ~20% (~7 PgC∙y⁻¹) of the total primary production and cyanobacteria represented about 10% (~4 PgC∙y⁻¹) of the total primary production. Primary production by diatoms was highest in the high latitudes (>40°) and in major upwelling systems (Equatorial Pacific and Benguela system). We then assessed interannual variability of this group-specific primary production over the period 1998–2011. Globally the annual relative contribution of each phytoplankton groups to the total primary production varied by maximum 4% (1–2 PgC∙y⁻¹). We assessed the effects of climate variability on group-specific primary production using global (i.e., Multivariate El Niño Index, MEI) and “regional” climate indices (e.g., Southern Annular Mode (SAM), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO)). Most interannual variability occurred in the Equatorial Pacific and was associated with climate variability as indicated by significant correlation (p < 0.05) between the MEI and the group-specific primary production from all groups except coccolithophores. In the Atlantic, climate variability as indicated by NAO was significantly correlated to the primary production of 2 out of the 4 groups in the North Central Atlantic (diatoms/cyanobacteria) and in the North Atlantic (chlorophytes and coccolithophores). We found that climate variability as indicated by SAM had only a limited effect on group-specific primary production in the Southern Ocean. These results provide a modeling and data assimilation perspective to phytoplankton partitioning of primary production and contribute to our understanding of the dynamics of the carbon cycle in the oceans at a global scale.

Quantifying change in ocean biology using satellites is a major scientific objective. We document trends globally for the period 1998–2012 by integrating three diverse methodologies: ocean color data from multiple satellites, bias correction methods based on in situ data, and data assimilation to provide a consistent and complete global representation free of sampling biases. The results indicated no significant trend in global pelagic ocean chlorophyll over the 15 year data record. These results were consistent with previous findings that were based on the first 6 years and first 10 years of the SeaWiFS mission. However, all of the Northern Hemisphere basins (north of 10° latitude), as well as the Equatorial Indian basin, exhibited significant declines in chlorophyll. Trend maps showed the local trends and their change in percent per year. These trend maps were compared with several other previous efforts using only a single sensor (SeaWiFS) and more limited time series, showing remarkable consistency. These results suggested the present effort provides a path forward to quantifying global ocean trends using multiple satellite missions, which is essential if we are to understand the state, variability, and possible changes in the global oceans over longer time scales.

Identifying major trends in biogeochemical composition of the oceans is essential to improve our understanding of biological responses to climate forcing. Using the NASA Ocean Biogeochemical Model combined with ocean color remote sensing data assimilation, we assessed the trends in phytoplankton composition (diatoms, cyanobacteria, coccolithophores, and chlorophytes) at a global scale for the period 1998–2012. We related these trends in phytoplankton to physical conditions (surface temperature, surface photosynthetically available radiation (PAR), and mixed layer depth (MLD)) and nutrients (iron, silicate, and nitrate). We found a significant global decline in diatoms (−1.22% yr⁻¹, p < 0.05). This trend was associated with a significant (p < 0.05) shallowing of the MLD (−0.20% yr⁻¹), a significant increase in PAR (0.09% yr⁻¹), and a significant decline in nitrate (−0.38% yr⁻¹). The global decline in diatoms was mostly attributed to their decline in the North Pacific (−1.00% yr⁻¹, p < 0.05), where the MLD shallowed significantly and resulted in a decline in all three nutrients (p < 0.05). None of the other phytoplankton groups exhibited a significant change globally, but regionally there were considerable significant trends. A decline in nutrients in the northernmost latitudes coincided with a significant decline in diatoms (North Pacific, −1.00% yr⁻¹) and chlorophytes (North Atlantic, −9.70% yr⁻¹). In the northern midlatitudes (North Central Pacific and Atlantic) where nutrients were more scarce, a decline in nutrients was associated with a decline in smaller phytoplankton: cyanobacteria declined significantly in the North Central Pacific (−0.72% yr⁻¹) and Atlantic (−1.56% yr⁻¹), and coccolithophores declined significantly in the North Central Atlantic (−2.06% yr⁻¹). These trends represent the diversity and complexity of mechanisms that drives phytoplankton communities to adapt to variable conditions of nutrients, light, and mixed layer depth. These results provide a first insight into the existence of trends in phytoplankton composition over the maturing satellite ocean color era and illustrate how changes in the conditions of the oceans in the last ~15 years may have affected them.

Extreme events in the ocean severely impact marine organisms and ecosystems. Of particular concern are compound events, i.e., when conditions are extreme for multiple potential ocean ecosystem stressors such as temperature and chlorophyll. Yet, little is known about the occurrence, intensity, and duration of such compound high-temperature (a.k.a. marine heatwaves – MHWs) and low-chlorophyll (LChl) extreme events, whether their distributions have changed in the past decades, and what the potential drivers are. Here we use satellite-based sea surface temperature and chlorophyll concentration estimates to provide a first assessment of such compound extreme events. We reveal hotspots of compound MHW and LChl events in the equatorial Pacific, along the boundaries of the subtropical gyres, in the northern Indian Ocean, and around Antarctica. In these regions, compound events that typically last 1 week occur 3 to 7 times more often than expected under the assumption of independence between MHWs and LChl events. The occurrence of compound MHW and LChl events varies on seasonal to interannual timescales. At the seasonal timescale, most compound events occur in summer in both hemispheres. At the interannual timescale, the frequency of compound MHW and LChl events is strongly modulated by large-scale modes of natural climate variability such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, whose positive phase is associated with increased compound event occurrence in the eastern equatorial Pacific and in the Indian Ocean by a factor of up to 4. Our results provide a first understanding of where, when, and why compound MHW and LChl events occur. Further studies are needed to identify the exact physical and biological drivers of these potentially harmful events in the ocean and their evolution under global warming.