U.S. Naval Academy Spring Semester 2007 Remote Sensing Class:
Research Project Utilizing Giovanni - North Box

Research Project Results – North Box

As seen in the introduction, the North Box had the largest seasonal variability of SST in the four study boxes.

...

Chl a and SST plot (left):   Chl a and SST show a moderate negative correlation (-0.564).  Chl a is generally higher in the winter.  The data gaps in the chlorophyll time-series are likely due to pollution aerosols, which can be very heavy in the winter over mainland China.  High chl a in the winter could be due to inaccurate data in the presence of suspended sediments, which would be caused here by the winter monsoon winds. 

nLw(551) and SST plot (right):   nLw(551) and SST show a similar negative correlation (-0.486).    High values of nLw(551) would most likely be due to suspended sediments.   However, the peaks in winter 2003-2004 are offset by two months, which is more clearly seen in the next plot, which makes this observation somewhat difficult to understand. 

Chl a, K490, and nLw(551) plot: Chl a and K490 show the expected strong correlation (+0.933). This high correlation would be expected even if K490 and nLw(551) have a weak positive correlation (+0.328), because any type of particles in the water column will influence K490. The offset of the chl a and nLw(551) peaks in winter 2003-2004 is unusual;  such an effect could be due to productivity enhanced by higher flow from rivers, which will exhibit a response-and-effect lag time. However, a two-month lag time is unusual, as would be elevated river flow in the middle of winter, so this observation remains enigmatic.

Introduction -- East -- North -- West -- South