Monitoring Harmful Algal Blooms in the Indian Ocean Region Using Satellite Remote Sensing Data

Nowadays, fishermen and other people dependent on marine life and seafood face severe problems due to HABs (harmful algal blooms). HABs are severely affecting climate change, fishermen, and the Indian economy in many ways. Therefore, detecting harmful algal blooms in various coastal regions is necessary to increase economic growth and save aquatic animal life. The present study summarizes the algal bloom events analysis reported in India during of January 2004, September 2004, March 2008, and March 2013. The detection of algal blooms in Asian Pacific Data Research Center(APDRC) using Chlorophyll, sea surface temperature of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) satellite data is considered for the significant algal blooms events that occurred over the Indian Ocean in January 2004, September 2004, March 2008, and March 2013. In addition, the corresponding zonal total surface currents from OSCAR satellite data are analysed to investigate the HAB characteristics. It is evident from the results that various factors for such algal blooms are based on the environmental factors prevalent during the blooms period. The outcome of this work would help understand the spatial and temporal variability of Algal blooms and for developing algal bloom detection and prediction algorithm using satellite and ground-based observations.