Investigation of optical and biogeochemical interactions in marine ecosystems

This study seeks to demonstrate the feasability and efficiency of an inversion frame-work of the three-stream irradiance model to retrieve biogeochemical properties such as chlorophyll-a, non-algal particles, and colored dissolved organic matter in seawater. Implemented in a one-dimensional configuration at the BOUSSOLE site in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea, the model demonstrates the ability to reconstruct the variability of optical constituents. Sensitivity analyses reveal the significant roles of chlorophyll-a and colored dissolved organic matter in light modulation. The inversion approach serves as a robust observational operator for assimilating remote sensing reflectance, offering a coherent method for integrating optical measurements into marine biogeochemical models. Moreover, the study contributes to the development of a more accurate three-stream forward framework by adding a benthic component, implemented in the Adriatic Sea optically complex water mass. With this, our work helps to constrain the inverse problem and improve the retrieval of biogeochemical parameters from observational data.