Abstract
<p> <p id="x-x-sp0055"> Using high-resolution airborne measurements and more synoptic coverage of <a title="Learn more about Landsat from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages"> Landsat </a> measurements, we estimated the total <em> <a title="Learn more about Sargassum from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages"> Sargassum </a> </em> coverage in the northeastern <a title="Learn more about Gulf of Mexico from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages"> Gulf of Mexico </a> (NE GOM) during 2010, with the ultimate purpose to infer how much <em> Sargassum </em> might have been in contact with oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Mean <em> Sargassum </em> coverage during the four quarters of 2010 for the study region was estimated to range from ~ 3148 ± 2355 km <sup> 2 </sup> during January–March to ~ 7584 ± 2532 km <sup> 2 </sup> during July–September (95% confidence intervals) while estimated <em> Sargassum </em> coverage within the integrated oil footprint ranged from 1296 ± 453 km <sup> 2 </sup> (for areas with > 5% thick oil) to 736 ± 257 km <sup> 2 </sup> (for areas with > 10% thick oil). Similar to previous studies on estimating <em> Sargassum </em> coverage, a direct validation of such estimates is impossible given the heterogeneity and scarcity of <em> Sargassum </em> occurrence. Nonetheless, these estimates provide preliminary information to understand relative <em> Sargassum </em> abundance in the NE GOM. </p></p>
Original language | American English |
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Journal | Marine Pollution Bulletin |
Volume | 107 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1 2016 |
Keywords
- Sargassum
- Landsat
- AVIRIS
- Gulf of Mexico
- Deepwater Horizon
- Remote sensing
Disciplines
- Life Sciences