Characterization of bio-optical anomalies in the Kerguelen region, Southern Indian Ocean: A study based on shipborne sampling and BioGeoChemical-Argo profiling floats

The Southern Ocean (SO) is known for its atypical bio-optical regime. This complicates the interpretation of proxies measured from satellite and in situ platforms equipped with optical sensors, which occupy an important niche for monitoring the vast and remote SO. A ship-based field study in concert with time series observations from BioGeoChemical-Argo (BGC-Argo) profiling floats were used to investigate spatial and temporal variations in bio-optical relationships in the open ocean waters surrounding the Kerguelen Plateau in the Indian sector of the SO. Compared to other regions with similar chlorophyll concentrations, chlorophyll-specific phytoplankton absorption in the blue waveband presented a consistent negative anomaly. The anomaly was uniform over deep mixed layers and correlated with phytoplankton size, photoacclimation and atypically high concentrations of fucoxanthin. The BGC-Argo observation-based proxies revealed that the blue absorption anomaly increased with chlorophyll concentration both spatially and temporally and, while particularly pronounced in the naturally iron-fertilized waters, was also found in the High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll region. While phytoplankton size was an important driver of the anomaly, photoacclimation associated with self-shading of phytoplankton cells was also involved during intense booms. The backscattering coefficient exhibited negative and positive anomalies in the low and high biomass regimes, respectively. The large positive anomaly in high biomass regimes was attributed to the variable non-algal particles characteristics associated with a relatively high production of bloom by-products. With clear understanding of the bio-optical anomalies, BGC-Argo floats stand as unique tools for monitoring the bio-optical spatio-temporal complexity of the SO.