Spatiotemporal Patterns of Harmful Blooms in Coastal China and Their Relationship with Sea Surface Temperature
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54097/g5h7md63Keywords:
Harmful Algal Bloom; Coastal Waters of China; Spatiotemporal Distribution; Sea Surface Temperature; Correlation Analysis.Abstract
There are serious ecological problems of harmful algal blooms (HABs) in the coastal areas of China. Based on the China Marine Disaster Bulletin (2014-2023) and concurrent sea surface temperature (SST) data, this paper studies the interannual fluctuations and spatial distributions of harmful algal bloom (HAB) frequency and cumulative area, and investigates their relationship with SST. Based on the above results, HABs have been relatively frequent over the past decade and have shown two peaks in 2016 and 2021. The East China Sea is the main hotspot, with the highest proportion in both occurrence (52.2%) and affected area (69.3% in 2023). The Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea and South China Sea have lower HAB activity due to different nutrient loads and hydrodynamic conditions. Correlation analysis shows that HAB indicators are weakly and insignificantly correlated with the annual mean SST (frequency: r=0.241, p=0.503; area: r=0.390, p=0.265). Therefore, SST is not a leading statistical factor for interannual variability of HABs in China's coastal waters.
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