Parameterization of the chlorophyll a-specific in vivo light absorption coefficient covering estuarine, coastal and oceanic waters

We evaluated models predicting the spectral chlorophyll-a (Chl a)specific absorption coefficient (a*(ph) (lambda)) from Chl a concentration [Chl a] on the basis of 465 phytoplankton absorption spectra collected in estuarine, coastal and oceanic waters. A power model on In-transformed data provided the best model fit compared to a power model on non-transformed data previously applied to parameterize the relationship between a*(ph) (lambda) and [Chila]. The variation in a*(ph) (lambda) was parameterized over four orders of magnitude in [Chl a] (0.01-100 mg Chlam- 3) producing a 13-fold range in a*(ph) (0.19 to 0.015 m(2) mg(-1) Chl a) at 440 nm, the peak absorption of Chl a in the blue part of the spectrum. The variations in the modelled a*(ph) spectra were within realistic predictions of a*(ph) (;,) and the model satisfactorily reproduced the spectral flattening with increasing [Chla]. The parameterization of a*(ph) (lambda) confirmed the indirect dependency of a*(ph) (lambda) on [Chla] through co-variations between [Chla] with pigment packaging and pigment composition. Although pigment packaging determined the spectral flattening, analysis of absorption ratios revealed a systematic change in pigment composition with profound influence on the variability of a*ph in the 440 to 495 nm region. Modelled spectra deviated by approximately 20% from the measured spectra on average and model accuracy was independent of [Chl a]. Although the model cannot fully replace spectral measurements of phytoplankton absorption, it does permit realistic reconstructions of a*(ph) (lambda) from simple measurements of [Chl a] sampled in estuarine, coastal and oceanic waters.