Seasonal and interannual variations in pigments in the Adriatic Sea

Abstract

Spatial and temporal variability of pigments was studied from the CZCS satellite data and from in situ chlorophyll and transparency for the period 1979-1985. The three Adriatic sites, Northern, Middle, and Southern Adriatic are differently influenced by meteorological, hydrological and oceanographic parameters. The differences between seasonal in situ chlorophyll and remotely sensed pigment concentrations (from CZCS satellite data) from the Adriatic are large in winter. Through the correlation analysis, pigments were compared to meteo-oceanographic and hydrological parameters from different Adriatic sites. The PCA (principal component analysis) was applied to the pigment data series and significant components were compared. Different correlations are obtained for warm and cold periods of the year pointing to seasonal differences in the underlying mechanism of pigment variability. The first PC is influenced mainly by temperature. In the warm period more parameters seem to influence the pigment field, than in the cold period. The pigments in the Adriatic are in good correlation to a number of hydrologic and meteo-oceanographic factors.