Unveiling primary production dynamics in the southern Bay of Bengal: Comparative analysis of in-situ measured data with multiple primary production models

In this study, marine water samples were collected at 18 sampling stations. The collected marine water samples were analysed using a well-calibrated UV spectrophotometer for chlorophyll-a estimation, and using a hyperspectral underwater radiometer, both buoy mode and profile mode in-situ data were collected. The study evaluated four different primary production models to study the dynamics of the southern Bay of Bengal. The simple Eppley model used in the study resulted in huge variations in the nearshore and frontal regions; the dark and light bottle methods showed enormous variations along all 18 sampling stations and underestimated the productivity of the southern Bay of Bengal. However, the VGPM model and its variants showed similar trends in near shore, frontal, and off-shore waters for all three transects, and the Kameda model closely matched the available literature for the primary production estimates of the southern Bay of Bengal. From the detailed analysis of the Kameda model, it is found that the average primary production for the Southern Bay of Bengal for the post monsoon season (February 2023) is estimated as 339.08 mgC/m²/d.