Satellite views of the massive algal bloom in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman during 2008-2009

Abstract

The Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman locate at the northwest of the Arabian Sea, with the total area more than 50,0000 km2. The Persian Gulf is a semi-enclosed subtropical sea with high water temperature, extremely high salinity, and an average depth of 50 meters. By the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf is connected to the Gulf of Oman which is significantly affected by the monsoonal winds and by water exchange between the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. Algal blooms occurred frequently in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, and some of them are harmful algal blooms which may lead to massive fish death and thereby serious economic loss. Due to the widely spatial coverage and temporal variation, it is difficult to monitoring the dynamic of the algal bloom based on in situ measurement. In this study, we used the remote sensing data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Aqua satellite to investigate a massive algal bloom event in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman during 2008-2009. The time series of MODIS-derived chlorophyll concentration (Chl-a) indicated that the bloom event with high Chl-a concentration (~60 percent higher than corresponding climatological data) appeared to lasting more than 8 months from autumn of 2008 to spring of 2009. In addition, the bloom was widespread from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and neighboring open ocean. The MODIS-derived net primary production (NPP) collected from MODIS showed the same trend with Chl-a. Multiple forces including upwelling, dust deposition was taken into account to elucidate the mechanisms for the long-lasting algal bloom. The time series chlorophyll concentration of the Persian Gulf emerges a significant seasonal pattern with maximum concentrations seen during the winter time and lowest during the summer. It also indicated slight disturbances occurred in June (May/July) and December (November/ January) in some years. The sea surface temperature and water transparency in the Persian Gulf increased with the rates of 0.3% (<0.01) and 3.02% (p<0.01) during 2003-2014, respectively. Chl-a and NPP declined with the rates of 1.61% (p=0.06) and 1.09% (p=0.08), respectively. However, there are no significant changes of the bloom initiation, termination and duration time among years over 2003-2014.