Oceanic And Terrestrial Controls On Chlorophyll -a Abundance Around The Island Of Okinawa, Japan

This research aims to understand key factors affecting ocean surface chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) blooms at a range of scales (both regional and near the coastal zone) around the Island of Okinawa in the western Pacific. The study region is characterised by both the actions of the Kuroshio Current (which brings warm water) and the Asian Monsoon (which provides moist southwest winds in summer and dry northern winds in winter). Due to these influences, Okinawa has a subtropical climate, with a rainy season in the summer months (MJ), and prevailing northerly winds in winter (NDJ). In order to better understand factors which may influence the timing and magnitude of Chl-a blooms in the vicinity of Okinawa, we applied empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis to a time series of AVHRR (monthly mean SST from 1985-2006) and SeaWIFS (monthly mean Chl-a from 1998 to 2006) data over two different spatial scales: domain 1 (D1) - a region of the ocean southeast of Kuroshio, and domain 2 (D2) - a sub-region near coastline focused on Okinawa itself. The first EOF mode of SST in regions D1 and D2 (which accounted for more than 90 % in each domain) showed a clear radiation-driven annual cycle: high SST in summer and low SST in winter. The first EOF mode of Chl-a in D1 (which accounted for 51 %) also demonstrated an annual cycle, but in this instance one that mirrored that of SST (i.e. low Chl-a in summer and high Chl-a in winter). The first mode Chl-a EOF in D2 (accounting for 63 % of the total variance) also has a similar annual cycle, displaying a significant correlation (r=0.75, p<0.001) with northerly wind magnitudes, lagged by 2 months, suggesting that the winter monsoon is a major control on the observed Chl-a bloom. However, extreme events such as typhoons can also cause a Chl-a bloom around the coast. As a result of further analysis of daily Chl-a data along the western coastline of Okinawa, it was found that some of the peaks of Chl-a were closely correlated with river discharges associated with heavy rainfall (with a 4~5 days lag), implying that terrestrial runoff may also act as a significant factor affecting Chl-a blooms in D2.