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Mapping Ice Algal Blooms in Southwest Greenland From Space
Author(s) -
Wang Shujie,
Tedesco Marco,
Xu Min,
Alexander Patrick M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2018gl080455
Subject(s) - meltwater , algal bloom , abundance (ecology) , algae , oceanography , sea ice , environmental science , greenland ice sheet , geology , ice sheet , physical geography , snow , ecology , phytoplankton , geography , geomorphology , biology , nutrient
Quantifying the distribution and abundance of ice algae is fundamental for understanding the evolving processes of algal blooms in supraglacial environments, particularly over the Greenland ice sheet, given the role of algal impurities in modulating surface albedo and meltwater production. Field observations of ice algae in Greenland are very limited over space and time. Here we show for the first time the regional variability in algal abundance across the dark zone in southwest Greenland, derived from Sentinel‐3 images acquired during the summertime in 2016 and 2017. We demonstrate the capacity of Sentinel‐3 imagery to characterize the spatial pattern of algal abundance using the reflectance ratios between 709‐ and 673‐nm bands, highly consistent with field measurements. The estimated algal abundance reveals a significant linear growth pattern of algal population with time after the peak of dark ice presence, shown to be tightly linked to surface runoff and meltwater production.