浮游植物剖面分布特征及环境影响机制是南海生态系统动力学研究的重要内容。浮游植物高光谱反演机理是近年来海洋光学和水色遥感研究的前沿热点问题。船载观测系统是目前获取高光谱水体光学特性的主要观测平台，进一步结合高分辨率光学剖面测量及多传感器集成同步观测优势，可为实现浮游植物剖面的综合观测研究提供重要手段。.本项目拟依托南海综合调查航次，集成海洋光学-水文学-化学等多学科传感器进行同步剖面观测；探索浮游植物剖面分布的高光谱反演机理，实现关键色素和粒级结构的定量反演及不同水层关键种群差异的分类识别；结合多学科参数剖面和多源卫星遥感，研究南海浮游植物剖面分布与环境要素（营养盐、光照、温跃层等）的关联。研究成果将推动海洋光学高光谱观测技术的发展，对于深入理解南海生态动力过程及响应机制具有重要科学意义。

Research studies about the vertical variation of phytoplankton and its environmental driving mechanism are crucial for studying the marine ecosystem dynamics in South China Sea. Based on the optical characteristics of phytoplankton with varying biomass and community structures, optical inversion methods have been developed for monitoring phytoplankton distribution over different scales. Recently, new algorithms based on hyperspectral optical data have attracted much attention in the research studies of marine optics and remote sensing, which exhibited potential capability to exploit more spectral signatures of phytoplankton. Advances in hyperspectral optical measurement with high vertical resolution and the integration technique with multiple environmental sensors have provided us an important tool for investigating the vertical distribution of phytoplankton. .This project plans to perform multi-disciplinary comprehensive observation by integrating optical-hydrological-chemical sensors, and a large set of in situ profile data in the South China Sea will be collected during research cruises supported by the national natural science foundation. Phytoplankton profiles (including chlorophyll a concentration, diagnostic pigment composition and size classes) will be retrieved by interpreting the hyperspectral variability of optical properties with advanced data mining methods. Further studies about the vertical variations of phytoplankton in South China Sea and their connections with environmental variability (including nutrients, light, and thermocline) will be investigated by coupling the in situ measured multi-disciplinary data and remote sensing data. Our research results could provide important basis for studying the marine ecosystem dynamics in the South China Sea, which could also promote the development of marine hyperspectral optical observation in marine studies.