Spatial pattern of sea surface temperature and chlorophyll-a trends in relation to hydrodynamic processes in the Alborán Sea

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Published: Mar 22, 2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/mms.30268
Keywords:
Alborán Sea SST Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) Time series trends STL Mann-Kendall Western Alboran Gyre (WAG) Atlantic Jet (AJ)
BENYOUNES ABDELLAOUI
National Institute for Fisheries Research, Oceanography Department, Morocco
FEDERICO FALCINI
Istituto di Scienze Marine - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Roma, Italy
TARIK BAIBAI
National Institute for Fisheries Research, Oceanography Department, Morocco
KARIM KARIM HILMI
National Institute for Fisheries Research, Oceanography Department, Morocco & Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC/UNESCO)
OMAR ETTAHIRI
National Institute for Fisheries Research, Oceanography Department, Morocco
ROSALIA SANTOLERI
Istituto di Scienze Marine - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Roma, Italy
RACHIDA HOUSSA
National Institute for Fisheries Research, Oceanography Department, Morocco
HASSAN NHHALA
University of Abdelmalek Saidi, LEORN, Faculty of Sciences, Tangier, Morocco
HASSAN ER-RAIOUI
University of Abdelmalek Saidi, LEORN, Faculty of Sciences, Tangier, Morocco
LAILA OUKHATTAR
University of Cadi Ayad, Ecole supérieure de technologies, Essaouira, Morocco
Abstract

Environmental conditions such as temperature, planktonic biomass, and ocean currents play an important role in the development and distribution of marine species. This work aims to estimate, in a high spatial resolution, the actual trends of sea surface temperature (SST) and chlorophyll-a concentration (Chl-a) and to assess the relationship with the local hydrodynamic conditions in the Alborán Sea. To investigate these objectives, time series of SST and Chl-a of satellite sensor data were analyzed during 20 years from January 2001 to December 2020, using the Seasonal-Trend-Loess (STL) decomposition method and the Mann-Kendall seasonality test. The results, obtained with a 95% of confidence, showed that the Alborán Sea basin is subject to sea surface warming evaluated at 0.027 ± 0.008 ° C per year, related to the warming of the Atlantic water mass, which contributes to a decrease of productivity evaluated at -0.0024 ± 0.0003 μg /l per year of Chl-a concentration. These trends are not homogeneous over the entire basin area but show a large regional variation between different parts of the Alborán Sea due to the hydrodynamic process of the Atlantic Jet - Western Alboran Gyre system (AJ-WAG), which is more active especially in summer/autumn seasons and contribute largely to these changes by mixing the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

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