Ocean color satellites show extensive lines of floating sargassum in the Gulf of Mexico
Ocean color satellites show extensive lines of floating sargassum in the Gulf of Mexico
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DOI：
10.1109/tgrs.2006.882258
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发表时间：
2006-12-01
影响因子：
8.2
通讯作者：
King, Stephanie
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Gower, Jim;Hu, Chuanmin;King, Stephanie
我们目前的卫星图像被解释为显示在2005年夏天在墨西哥湾西部的漂浮马尾藻广泛的线。尽管经常有报道称漂浮的海藻覆盖了世界海洋不同地区的大面积区域，但这似乎是首次从太空观察到马尾藻。利用欧洲航天局发射的Envisat卫星上的中分辨率成像光谱仪进行了卫星观测，随后利用美国国家航空航天局发射的Terra和Aqua卫星上的中分辨率成像光谱辐射仪进行了卫星观测。这两种仪器覆盖范围很广，几乎每天都能提供图像。两者都有在670至750纳米范围内的光谱带，可以检测陆地和海洋植被的叶绿素红边特征，但只有MERIS有709纳米的波段，这对最初的发现至关重要。来自两个传感器的综合卫星数据显示了海湾不同地区杂草密度的季节性周期。现在需要进行更广泛的研究，以绘制其在其他地区的分布图，包括马尾藻海（以这种杂草命名，但到目前为止尚未在我们的调查中涵盖）。卫星观测结果表明，马尾藻生物量比以前估计的要大，因此在海洋生产力中起着更重要的作用。
We present satellite imagery that is interpreted as showing extensive lines of floating Sargassum in the western Gulf of Mexico in the summer of 2005. In spite of frequent reports of floating weed covering extended areas in different parts of the world's ocean, this appears to be the first observation of Sargassum from space. Satellite observations were made with the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) on the Envisat satellite launched by the European Space Agency, and subsequently with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) launched on both the Terra and Aqua satellites by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Both instruments cover wide swaths, providing near-daily images. Both have optical spectral bands in the range 670 to 750 nm, which detect the chlorophyll red-edge characteristic of land and marine vegetation, but only MERIS has a band at 709 nm, which was critical to the initial discovery. The combined satellite data from both sensors show the seasonal cycle of weed density in different areas of the Gulf. A wider ranging study is now needed to map its occurrence in other areas, including the Sargasso Sea (named for the weed, but not so far covered in our survey). The satellite observations suggest that Sargassum biomass is greater than previously estimated, and hence plays a more important part in oceanic productivity.