The relationship between desert dust and the algal bloom in the arabian sea

Since the industrial revolution increase in the amount of greenhouse gases and average temperature thereof resulted in efforts to prevent/mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and researches on reducing CO2 present in the atmosphere. It is also intended with this study to put forward the relationship between the algal blooms in the Arabian Sea especially in north eastern monsoon period with desert dust taking into consideration the CO2 uptake potential of phytoplanktons. In this regard, Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and chlorophyll-a data since 1997 from The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s SeaWiFS, Aqua and Terra MODIS instruments collected, analyzed their time series and correlated for each Northeast Monsoon (NEM) period. Additionally, dust transport and algal blooms in Arabian Sea since 2013 are analyzed by true color satellite images. There obtained medium or high positive correlations in a few NEM periods (2000-01 NEM period r=0,55 (p<.001), 2008-09 NEM period r=0,48 (p<.001), 1999-2000 and 2005-06 NEM periods r=0,41 (p<.001), 2013-14 NEM period r=0,39 (p<.001)). However, no significant correlation found in general between AOD and chlorophyll-a for NEM periods of Arabian Sea in general. On the other hand, analysis of individual episodes in NEM by satellite images revealed that algal blooms take place 10 to 20 days on average after dust transport events.