Changes in the marine biosphere of the Northwest Pacific and the Central Indo-Pacific observed via Earth Observation data (EO data used for NWP and CIP biosphere)

Authors: Young-Je Park, Fang Shen, GiHoon Hong, Fang Zuo, Kai Qin, Sophie Hebden

Journals: Journal of Sea Research

The Northwest Pacific and the Central Indo-Pacific regional economies have exhibited rapidly developing marine sectors in recent decades. The advancements in ocean color remote sensing, from the first proof-of-concept instrument for measuring ocean color demonstrated by the NASA's CZCS scanning radiometer in 1978, followed by improved algorithms and validation standards developed during the SeaWiFS mission launched in 1997, have paved the way for routine global observations using ocean sensors like MODIS, VIIRS, MERIS, and OLI. These satellite data have significantly contributed to understanding ocean ecosystems and productivity on a global scale. However, when applied to regional seas such as those in the Northwest Pacific and Indo-Pacific, these data can show significant biases due to the complexity of the optical properties of water and aerosols in these regions. Therefore, continuing efforts are required to verify and refine algorithms for regional applications.

This special issue will enhance our understanding of regional oceanography and marine resources by leveraging ocean color data and other remote sensing products. We hope it will stimulate further hemispheric-scale research from regional scientists representing a full range of indigenous knowledge in the coming years.

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Fig. 3: The numbers of EA and SEA scientific publications carrying “country name, satellite, ocean, and marine” terms in the title, abstract and indexing were from searching the Web of Science database as of October 2024. EA and SEA refer to the East Asia (China, Japan, and Korea) and the Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore), respectively.