Effect of Dust Storm on Phytoplankton Productivity in Arabian Sea

Abstract

Dust storm plays an important role as it triggers phytoplankton in the ocean by adding nutrients. In the present study, an attempt has been made to understand the role and relation between dust storm and phytoplankton concentration. Chlorophyll-a concentrations are an indicator of phytoplankton abundance and its biomass. Satellite data gives daily information on Chlorophyll-a concentration and so as phytoplankton abundance in the ocean as well as information about dust storm events. In this study, satellite data of MODIS (Aqua), MODIS (Tera) and SeaWiFS data has been taken for analysis from the year 2002 to 2012. The result shows that after most of the dust storm events, there is an increase in phytoplankton concentration in specific areas in the Arabian Sea. This indicates that the dust storm is carrying nutrients like nitrate, phosphate, iron, etc., from continents, which get deposited in the Arabian Sea and trigger phytoplankton growth. After each event, there is certain percent of increase in the phytoplankton concentration.

Keywords: dust storm, phytoplankton, Arabian Sea, seawifs, MODIS sensors