2. Primary Production
  3. Primary Production Variables
  4. Application

Primary Production Variables Application

Challenge Question

What is the relationship between chlorophyll-a concentration and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM)? How does that relate to what you know about primary production?

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Your Objective

Explore the chlorophyll-a concentration and CDOM data to determine if there is a relationship over time in the Northern Pacific Ocean (Coastal Endurance Array).

Data Tip: Select CDOM (in addition to the blue plotted Chlorophyll-a Concentration data) to explore relationships and patterns in the data. Zoom in and out of the data to look at different time scales to see if it changes the relationships or patterns you observe.

Interpretation and Analysis Questions

  1. Is there a relationship between chlorophyll-a concentration and CDOM?
    1. If so, explain what kind of relationship is it? Why do you think that relationship exists between chlorophyll-a concentration and CDOM?
    2. If not, why do you think there is no relationship between chlorophyll-a concentration and CDOM?
  2. How does this relationship, or lack of relationship, support or challenge what you previously knew about primary production?
  3. What questions do you still have about primary production?

Background Information

Click on the images below to learn more about where and how the dataset above was collected.