Primary productivity in the western tropical Pacific and equatorial warm waters

Primary productivity in the western tropical Pacific and equatorial warm waters was studied in the WOCE cruise in November of 1991 and the TOGA-COARE cruise from November of 1992 to February of 1993.It is shown that the total amount of integrated chlorophyll a (chloro.a) was 19.79mg/m² in depth of 0~150 m and the average daily primary productivity was 171 mg/(m²·d) (C)appeared in the western tropical Pacific while a higher chloro, a (21.68 mg/m²) and primary productiv ity[228 mg/(m²·d) (C)] were observed in the equatorial warm waters.The highest chloro.a was found at the coastal stations of Philippines and Irian while the lowest chloro, a was at the offshore areas bounded by 2°~4°N.The distribution pattern of chloro, a biomass was related to different physical processes.Upwelling, which may have led to a high biomass, was a critical factor changing the distributions of temperature, salinity and nutrient in these areas.