Phytoplankton Biomass and the Hydrodynamic Regime in NEOM, Red Sea

• Published in: Remote Sensing
• Main Authors: Papagiannopoulos, Nikolaos, Raitsos, Dionysios E., Krokos, Georgios, Gittings, John, Brewin, Robert J. W., Papadopoulos, Vassilis P., Pavlidou, Alexandra, Selmes, Nick, Groom, Steve, Hoteit, Ibrahim
• Other Authors: Marine Science, Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division, Earth Science and Engineering Program, Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division, Marine Science Program, Department of Biology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 15772 Athens, Greece., Centre for Geography and Environmental Science, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Penryn Campus, University of Exeter, Cornwall TR10 9EZ, UK., Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR), 11527 Athens, Greece., Earth Observation Science (EOS), Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), Plymouth PL1 3DH, UK., King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021
• Subjects: Dream Island
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10754/669263; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13112082

NEOM (short for Neo-Mustaqbal) is a $500 billion coastal city megaproject, currently under construction in the northwestern part of the Red Sea, off the coast of Tabuk province in Saudi Arabia, and its success will rely on the preservation of biodiverse marine ecosystems. Monitoring the variability of ecological indicators, such as phytoplankton, in relation to regional environmental conditions, is the foundation for such a goal. We provide a detailed description of the phytoplankton seasonal cycle of surface waters surrounding NEOM using satellite-derived chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) observations, based on a regionally-tuned product of the European Space Agency’s Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative, at 1 km resolution, from 1997 to 2018. The analysis is also supported with in situ cruise datasets and outputs of a state-of-the-art high-resolution hydrodynamic model. The open waters of NEOM follow the oligotrophic character of the Northern Red Sea (NRS), with a peak during late winter and a minimum during late summer. Coral reef-bound regions, such as Sindala and Sharma, are characterised by higher Chl-a concentrations that peak during late summer. Most of the open waters around NEOM are influenced by the general cyclonic circulation of the NRS and local circulation features, while shallow reef-bound regions are more isolated. Our analysis provides the first description of the phytoplankton seasonality and the oceanographic conditions in NEOM, which may support the development of a regional marine conservation strategy. The study was partly supported by the Center of Excellence NEOM at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and by NEOM through Beacon Development Company (BDC) at KAUST. The research made use of the Supercomputing Laboratory resources at KAUST. The authors thank the NERC Earth Observation Data Acquisition and Analysis Service (NEODAAS) and the European Space Agency (ESA) for supplying over 20 years of high-resolution satellite-derived ocean colour data for this study. We also thank all the members and the crew of the R/V Thuwal and R/V Dream Island, who participated in the cruises that provided the in situ data.