A confirmation of the correlation between hydrocarbons and chlorophyll a in the upper euphotic zone

The average hydrocarbon content found in 14 water samples from the euphotic zone off Northwest Africa was 4.4 μg l.^?1 with no extreme values. The average chlorophyll $\text{a}$ content was 1.9 μg l.^?1. The data fit a model proposed in a previous paper (Zsolnay, 1977). The resulting equation was $\text{HC}\text{= ?2.7 + 4.82}\text{Ch}\text{?0.942}\text{Ch}{}^2$ and could explain 59% of the variance in the hydrocarbon distribution. This indicates a correlation that is significant at the 0.002 level.