Light and life in Norwegian waters: Physics/Biology based approach to satellite monitoring of primary production and algal blooms

The project I am involved in has the title “Light and Life in Norwegian waters: Physics/Biology based approach to satellite monitoring of primary production and algae blooms”. The project focuses on the further development of existing models for analysing satellite images in order to evaluate the water-quality. My task has been to contribute to the development of a bio-optical model of water based on 3 major constituents. These 3 components are algae, coloured dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and inorganic particles. We investigate both absorption- and scattering properties for these components. To make a good model for the reflectance it is important to have good absorption and scattering measurements of these components. Laboratoire d’océanographie de Villefranche in France is one of the leading groups in the world in ocean optics and remote sensing. They can offer a wide range of equipment for measuring scattering and absorption of light by oceanic particles, and their expertise in collecting and anal ysing data from the ocean is unique. This 3-month project is suggested to take place at Laboratoire d’océanographie de Villefranche in France for doing measurements on Norwegian Coastal water in order to obtain a better estimate both of scattering and ab sorption. A 3-month stay will also give me international experience from one of the world-leading groups in my field of research. My ambition is that the results I obtain from my 3-month stay in Villefranche, shall lead to a publishable paper.