Phytoplankton pigment patterns in the California Current as determined by satellite1

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Abstract
The satellite images of phytoplankton pigments off California show a high degree of heterogeneity. However, recurrent phytoplankton pigment structures can be identified in the California Current. The major ones are: two sharp boundaries several hundreds of kilometers long; low pigment eddies far offshore interwoven with higher pigment structures immediately inshore; a low pigment intrusion in the Southern California Bight, and a higher pigment region farther offshore; eddies “attached” to shallow coastal areas; and California Current rings spawned far offshore.The larger scale structures of phytoplankton pigments show a remarkable continuity throughout a year, but there is shifting, wobbling, and erosion of these structures. The structures are strong and distinct in spring and summer, weaken through fall (except for a slight intensification in October), and become weakest and poorly defined in late fall‐early winter. The patterns of distribution of phytoplankton pigments for a given season tend to reappear from one year to another in the 3 years analyzed. Such recurrency is significant because these patterns may change, and some disappear, within any given year.Clear similarities of the phytoplankton pigment distributions to the field of dynamic height and to an infrared image of sea surface temperature indicate the very important role of ocean circulation, and of phytoplankton nutrient content of the waters, in the generation and maintenance of the observed patterns.