Banded structure of drifting macroalgae |
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Authors: | Fangli Qiao Dejun Dai John Simpson Harald Svendsen |
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Affiliation: | aFirst Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, China;bSchool of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, UK;cGeophysical Institute, University of Bergen, Norway |
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Abstract: | A massive bloom of macroalgae occurred in the western Yellow Sea at the end of May, 2008, and lasted for nearly 2 months. The surface-drifting macroalgae was observed to accumulate in a pattern dominated by linear bands. The maximum length of individual algal bands exceeded 10 km and the distance between neighboring bands ranged from hundreds of meters to 6 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 1 km, between 1 and 2 km, and between 2 and 3 km, respectively. The separation of about five percent of the bands exceeds 4 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. |
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Keywords: | Macroalgae Western Yellow Sea Banded structure Separation distance between neighboring bands Log-normal distribution |
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