Whereas the vertical transport of biomass from productive surface waters to the deep ocean (the biological pump) is a critical component of the global carbon cycle, its magnitude and variability is poorly understood. Global-scale estimates of ocean carbon export vary widely, ranging from ∼5 to ∼20 Gt C y – 1 due to uncertainties in methods and unclear definitions. Satellite-derived properties such as phytoplankton biomass, sea surface temperature, and light attenuation at depth provide information about the oceanic ecosystem with unprecedented coverage and resolution in time and space. These products have been the basis of an intense effort over several decades to constrain different biogeochemical production rates and fluxes in the ocean. One critical challenge in this effort has been to estimate the magnitude of the biological pump from satellite-derived properties by establishing how much of the primary production is exported out of the euphotic zone, a flux that is called export production. Here we present a review of existing algorithms for estimating export production from satellite-derived properties, available in-situ datasets that can be used for testing the algorithms, and earlier evaluations of the proposed algorithms. The satellite-derived products used in the algorithm evaluation are all based largely on the Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (OC-CCI) products, and carbon products derived from them. The different resources are combined in a meta-analysis.
