El Nino related interannual variations in biological production in the North Pacific as evidenced by satellite and ship data

A recently proposed method for estimating nitrate and new production from remotely sensed data (Goes, Saino, Oaku, & Ding, 1999; Goes, Saino, Ishizaka, Wong, & Nojiri, 2000) allowed us to observe significant deviations from the normal in the quantum of winter-time nitrate injected into the euphotic column and its consumption by phytoplankton in the North Pacific following the El Nino event of 1997. Results from this study allowed us to observe large differences in the ways in which the El Nino event affected the western and the eastern margins of the North Pacific basin. For the western North Pacific, a long-term (1972-1992) historical record of oceanographic data provided us with clear evidence supporting of our findings from satellite observations. In the eastern North Pacific Ocean also, our results compared well with those previously reported (Wong, Whitney, Matear, & Iseki, 1998). While it is clear from this study that El Nino/La Nina oscillations can have a major influence on interannual variations in biological processes in the North Pacific, these results also serve to highlight the value of remote sensing as a tool for studying large regional to basin-scale biological oceanographic events. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.