Preliminary remote sensing observation of sea surface temperature increase during Ulva prolifera blooms

Authors

  • Sufen Wang Center of Remote Sensing on Marine Ecology/Environment, LTO, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
  • Danling Tang Center of Remote Sensing on Marine Ecology/Environment, LTO, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China

Keywords:

green algae, marine ecology

Abstract

A massive bloom of green macroalgae Ulva prolifera occurred in June 2008 in the Yellow Sea, resulting in perhaps the largest “green tide” event in the history of bloom research. The covered area is about 1,200 km2 and the impacted area reached 40,000 km2 on 31 May. This also occurred in the following two years, 2009 and 2010. We analyzed the satellite data from MODIS and the results showed that sea surface temperature increased 1–3°C in U. prolifera bloom locations. The macroalgae in the water may have been the cause of the increase of sea surface temperatures. Rapid increases of U. prolifera biomass during the blooms may have increased radiation absorption of the water, and thus enhanced the rate of heating at the sea surface. The present study represents a preliminary observation, which is an important step for understanding influences of macroalgae on ocean surface conditions.

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Published

2014-07-03

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 3 (2014): Application of Remote Sensing for Assessing Aquatic Ecosystem Health of China

Section

Research article

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