ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Ocean Observation
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1549711
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Remote Sensing Technologies for Ocean Ecology and Carbon CycleView all 6 articles
A novel method for distinguishing different algal blooms in the East China Sea via geostationary ocean color satellite observations
Provisionally accepted
- 1Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
- 2Donghai Laboratory, Zhoushan, China
- 3Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Dinoflagellate and diatom blooms are the most common marine disasters in the Yangtze River estuary (YRE) and adjacent areas of the East China Sea (ECS). In this study, the differences in the fluorescence quantum yield (φ) between dinoflagellate and diatom blooms at the growth stage were quantitatively analyzed via algal culture experiments. Based on the knowledge from the experiments, a method for identifying and classifying harmful algal blooms (HABs) suitable for Geostationary Ocean Color Imager-II (GOCI-II) data was developed. First, GOCI-II Level-2 products were validated. The results indicated that the remote sensing reflectance (Rrs) products of the GOCI-II fluorescence bands provide better accuracy and exhibited a favorable correlation with the measurement data. Hence, these products could be used for identifying and classifying algal bloom waters. Then, considering the water spectral characteristics obtained via the algal culture experiments of the dominant algal species in the ECS, a method for identifying algal bloom waters was established on the basis of the difference in the Rrs value between the fluorescence peak band and the baseline band. Based on the differences in φ during photosynthesis of different types of phytoplankton, a threshold of 0.014 was subsequently suggested to distinguish between dinoflagellate and diatom blooms, yielding a classification method for algal blooms based on φ. When applied to GOCI-II imagery, the developed identification and classification methods enabled accurate observation of the spatial distributions and trends of algal blooms. Moreover, this approach could facilitate the precise classification of dinoflagellate and diatom blooms in the ECS, aiding coastal managers in more effectively mitigating the harmful effects of algal blooms.
Keywords: algal bloom identification, Fluorescence quantum yield, East China Sea, GOCI-II, remote sensing reflectance, distinguishing algal species blooms 1
Received: 21 Dec 2024; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhao, Li, Zhang, DING and Gong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Fang Gong, Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hangzhou, 310012, Zhejiang Province, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.