Measuring Phytoplankton Growth from Space: Combining New Technologies to Advance the Monitoring and Modeling of Marine Ecological Services

Dear Colleagues,

Phytoplankton growth is a key process to monitor and forecast water quality and the functioning of marine ecosystems. Phytoplankton is behind the provision of ecosystem goods and services that span climate regulation and carbon sequestration, the recycling of nutrients and pollutants, and the production of fisheries and aquaculture. Recent advances in remote sensing, in situ observation technologies, and ecosystem modeling are bringing a unique opportunity to improve the monitoring of ecosystem services from space. The challenge is set to develop new approaches to advance knowledge about phytoplankton dynamics in the sea, taking advantage of complementary approaches and bridging gaps among disciplines.

New sensors and satellite platforms now enable the quantification of phytoplankton growth at unprecedented spatial, temporal, and spectral resolutions, and are even starting to illuminate vertical plankton processes. In parallel, autonomous systems provide regular samples of phytoplankton traits ranging from size structure and biomass to molecular and genetic markers. These types of data are narrowing the gap among remote sensing and information about phytoplankton dynamics, which were previously available only through field and lab experiments or through theoretical modelling, including the balance of phytoplankton production by a variety of loss processes.

This Special Issue is an open call for contributions exploring and discussing the application of satellite remote sensing to measure phytoplankton growth in the sea as a means to improve the quantification of marine ecosystem services. We welcome original studies, technical advances, opinion letters, and short perspective reviews featuring novel avenues to improve satellite technologies in coastal and open ocean environments. Example applications involve the detection, monitoring, and modeling of algal blooms; the characterization of phytoplankton loss processes; and their contribuition to energy and material cycles in the sea.

Dr. Fernando González Tabaoda
Dr. Carlos Luis Cáceres Pérez
Dr. Ricardo González Gil
Guest Editors

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• Phytoplankton growth
• Optical remote sensing
• Hyperspectral sensor
• LIDAR
• ICESat
• Algal bloom
• Ecosystem services
• Data fusion