Sargassum coverage in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico during 2010 from Landsat and airborne observations: Implications for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill impact assessment
Autor: | Trent McDonald, Eric Ruder, Sean P. Powers, Robert Hardy, Lian Feng, George Graettinger, Frank J. Hernandez, Jill Bodnar, Chuanmin Hu, Amelia Geggel |
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Rok vydání: | 2016 |
Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Pollution 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences Range (biology) media_common.quotation_subject Aquatic Science Oceanography 01 natural sciences Abundance (ecology) Satellite imagery Petroleum Pollution 0105 earth and related environmental sciences media_common Gulf of Mexico biology business.industry Impact assessment 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology Sargassum biology.organism_classification Petroleum industry Oil spill Environmental science business Environmental Monitoring |
Zdroj: | Marine pollution bulletin. 107(1) |
ISSN: | 1879-3363 |
Popis: | Using high-resolution airborne measurements and more synoptic coverage of Landsat measurements, we estimated the total Sargassum coverage in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico (NE GOM) during 2010, with the ultimate purpose to infer how much Sargassum might have been in contact with oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Mean Sargassum coverage during the four quarters of 2010 for the study region was estimated to range from ~3148±2355km(2) during January-March to ~7584±2532km(2) during July-September (95% confidence intervals) while estimated Sargassum coverage within the integrated oil footprint ranged from 1296±453km(2) (for areas with >5% thick oil) to 736±257km(2) (for areas with >10% thick oil). Similar to previous studies on estimating Sargassum coverage, a direct validation of such estimates is impossible given the heterogeneity and scarcity of Sargassum occurrence. Nonetheless, these estimates provide preliminary information to understand relative Sargassum abundance in the NE GOM. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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