GENERATING A LONG-TERM SERIES OF SST AND CHLOROPHYLL-A FOR THE COAST OF IRELAND

Abstract

The use of remote sensing has increased greatly in recent years due to technological advances and its advantages in comparison with traditional methods. In the case of Ireland however the use of these techniques is not well established and only 17% of remote sensing studies are related to marine and coastal environments. As a first step, and taking into account that fisheries and aquaculture plays an important economic and social role in Ireland, a database of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) relating to the ICES fisheries management areas is being generated. Up to now three different products have been produced. These products correspond to the annual SST Climatology and annual SST Anomalies from 1982 to 2014, as well as the annual Chl-a Climatology taking into account the different life span of CZCS (1982–1986), SeaWIFS (1997–2010), MERIS (2002–2012) and MODIS-Aqua (2002–2014). Initially, the Chl-a Climatology was produced for each sensor individually while the creation of a continuous Chl-a series will be investigated in the future. Analysing the SST trends highlighted an increasing trend in SST values in Irish waters, a trend which was more pronounced in the northern areas (+0.54 °C in the last 10 years). Although there are differences between sensors, Chl-a concentration seems to present higher values in the Celtic Sea since 2009. Analysing the ICES Divisions individually highlighted that coastal areas presented the highest Chl-a concentrations, involving a clear differentiation in the optical properties of coastal and oceanic waters.