Dataset: ALFA data - Western Arabian Sea
Deployment: RR2306

The fluorescence intensities attributable to each of the variables are normalized to the water Raman and expressed as relative fluorescence units (RFU). The Raman–normalized Chl a (679nm) and CDOM (508nm) fluorescence signals stimulated by the blue laser allow for measurements of Chl a and CDOM, respectively, while the Raman-normalized PE fluorescence signatures stimulated with the green laser allow for detection and quantitative assessment of three PE-containing groups of phytoplankton. These include the:

1. PE-1 peak at 565nm from blue water oligotrophic cyanobacteria with high phycourobilin/phycoerythrobilin (PUB/PEB) ratios,
2. PE-2 peak at 578nm from green water cyanobacteria with low-PUB/PEB ratios that usually thrive in coastal mesohaline waters, and
3. PE-3 peak at 590 nm attributable to eukaryotic photoautotrophic cryptophytes that are rich in phycobiliproteins and often abundant in coastal, and estuarine environments and in enclosed bays (Chekalyuk and Hafez, 2008; Chekalyuk et al., 2012, Goes et al. 2014).