Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
6362943 | Marine Pollution Bulletin | 2009 | 4 Pages |
Abstract
A massive bloom of macroalgae occurred in the western Yellow Sea at the end of May, 2008, and lasted for nearly 2Â months. The surface-drifting macroalgae was observed to accumulate in a pattern dominated by linear bands. The maximum length of individual algal bands exceeded 10Â km and the distance between neighboring bands ranged from hundreds of meters to 6Â km. Seven satellite images were analyzed to determine the distances between neighboring bands. Proportions of about 24%, 38%, and 22% are responsible for the separation distances smaller than 1Â km, between 1 and 2Â km, and between 2 and 3Â km, respectively. The separation of about five percent of the bands exceeds 4Â km. The probability distribution of the separation distance is quite close to log-normal which is that found in Langmuir circulation. However, the observed algal band separation greatly exceeds the distances between convergence lines reported in Langmuir circulation.
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Earth and Planetary Sciences
Oceanography
Authors
Fangli Qiao, Dejun Dai, John Simpson, Harald Svendsen,