Sargassum coverage in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico during 2010 from Landsat and airborne observations: Implications for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill impact assessment

MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN

卷:107

Article

Hu, Chuanmin¹  Hardy, Robert²  Ruder, Eric³  Geggel, Amelia³  Feng, Lian¹  Powers, Sean⁴  Hernandez, Frank⁵  Graettinger, George⁶  Bodnar, Jill⁶  McDonald, Trent⁷ 

[1] Univ S Florida, Coll Marine Sci, 140 Seventh Ave,South, St Petersburg, FL 33701 USA

[2] Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservat Commiss, Fish & Wildlife Res Inst, 100 Eighth Ave SE, St Petersburg, FL 33701 USA

[3] Ind Econ Inc, 2067 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02140 USA

[4] Univ S Alabama, Dept Marine Sci, 5871 USA Dr North Mobile, Mobile, AL 36688 USA

[5] Univ So Mississippi, Dept Marine Sci, 703 East Beach Dr, Ocean Springs, MS 39564 USA

[6] NOAA Off Response & Restorat, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA 98115 USA

[7] Western EcoSyst Technol Inc, 200 S Second St, Laramie, WY 82070 USA

关键词: Sargassum;    Landsat;    AVIRIS;    Gulf of Mexico;    Deepwater Horizon;    Remote sensing;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.04.045

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

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 similar to 3148 +/- 2355 km(2) during January-March to -7584 +/- 2532 km(2) during July-September (95% confidence intervals) while estimated Sargassum coverage within the integrated oil footprint ranged from 1296 +/- 453 km(2) (for areas with >5% thick oil) to 736 +/- 257 km(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. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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