The variability of primary production in the ocean: from the synoptic to the global scale: The 45th International Liege Colloquium on Ocean Dynamics, Liege, Belgium, May 13-17, 2013

The 45th International Liege Colloquium on Ocean Dynamics (http://modb.oce.ulg.ac.be/colloquium/) gathered two hundreds scientists from around the world to discuss new insights related to the evaluation of primary production at various spatial and temporal scales and in different regions of the world ocean (e.g. the polar and sea-ice region, the coastal and the deep ocean). Over the past two decades, substantial efforts were deployed to evaluate oceanic primary production. These efforts include in situ measurements of uptake rates using isotopic techniques, remote sensing, autonomous instrumentation for bio-optics, carbon or oxygen measurements, and the development of semi-empirical to complex biogeochemical models. The colloquium presented the opportunity to review the current knowledge in the estimation of primary production, and to assess the impact of physical processes on ocean productivity. Particular attention focused on the importance of physical processes at different spatial and temporal scales for controlling the level and variability of primary production and on the development of adequate methodologies to tackle this variability in order to derive large-scale, climate-driven budgets. Refined biogeochemical models considering for instance phytoplankton physiology, the representation of variable elemental stoichiometric ratios, the role of mixotrophy as well as satellite algorithms that are now able to simulate the plankton functional types are good candidates for scaling up. Contributions dealing with the difficult issue of interoperability of in-situ, satellite and modelling estimates of primary production were presented. Details on the terms of reference as well as the thematic session that were organized can be found at http://modb.oce.ulg.ac.be/?page=colloquium&year=2013.