Remote sensing : relationship between trends in UV intensity and phytoplankton concentration in the Antarctic and the Mediterranean

Abstract

As the phytoplankton constitutes of more than 45% of the total net primary production, comparable to that of terrestrial photosynthesising plants, understanding the parameters that are of influence becomes important. Additionally phytoplankton contribute greatly to biodiversity, and are important in geological cycles, such as the carbon cycle. This dissertation analyses the relationship between ozone and ocean colour, as well as sea surface temperature and ocean colour, for the Mediterranean basin and the Antarctic waters. The change of the three parameters with time is also considered to look for any trends. The strongest relationship was found for the SST and ocean colour in the Mediterranean region, which are inversely related to each other. All correlations appeared stronger for the Mediterranean than for the Antarctic, possibly because the variability in the Mediterranean was covered more due to its smaller size. The trends were also analysed from other studies, for a more holistic approach; for instance, Antarctic satellite data is quite limited for the purposes of this study. However, though the trend with time proved to be difficult to determine by the method used alone, the trends between the variables were identified. While the Antarctic phytoplankton have been documented for their adaptation to UV, in the study the Antarctic phytoplankton was less influenced by the same ozone levels as those in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean phytoplankton are more susceptible to UV-B than the species in the Antarctic. Hence the important primary producers; phytoplankton, are adversely affected with the ozone depletion peaks, and the UV-B maxima.