A spatial and temporal assessment of sargassum blooms in the tropical Atlantic
Since 2011, sargassum algae blooms have been occurring in the Tropical Atlantic basin from North and Central America, through the Caribbean Sea and across to the Gulf of Guinea. The blooms are aggregated and transported by wind and currents, and deposited on coastlines across the region. They pose t...
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University of Southampton
2024
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ftsouthampton:oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:490802 2024-06-23T07:55:20+00:00 A spatial and temporal assessment of sargassum blooms in the tropical Atlantic Fidai, Yanna Alexia 2024-06 text https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/490802/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/490802/1/PhD_Thesis_Yanna_Alexia_Fidai_pdfA3.pdf https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/490802/2/Final-thesis-submission-Examination-Miss-Yanna-Fidai.pdf en English eng University of Southampton https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/490802/1/PhD_Thesis_Yanna_Alexia_Fidai_pdfA3.pdf https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/490802/2/Final-thesis-submission-Examination-Miss-Yanna-Fidai.pdf Fidai, Yanna Alexia (2024) A spatial and temporal assessment of sargassum blooms in the tropical Atlantic. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis, 197pp. uos_thesis Thesis NonPeerReviewed 2024 ftsouthampton 2024-06-12T00:24:02Z Since 2011, sargassum algae blooms have been occurring in the Tropical Atlantic basin from North and Central America, through the Caribbean Sea and across to the Gulf of Guinea. The blooms are aggregated and transported by wind and currents, and deposited on coastlines across the region. They pose threats to ocean and coastal biodiversity, human health, coastal stability, industries such as tourism and aquaculture, and ultimately the livelihoods of coastal communities. Since the emergence of this new social-environmental challenge, there has been an increase in research and knowledge of sargassum. Most research has focused mainly on the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and North Atlantic Ocean and significant regional knowledge gaps exist. For example, in the Gulf of Guinea and Central America, there is much we do not know about sargassum. More specifically, in the under-researched geographic areas further data are needed on beaching events, different species and morphotypes, chemical composition, volume of sargassum, and the drivers of the blooms across the basin. This thesis aims to address these knowledge gaps by developing methods and creating datasets to improve the spatial and temporal understanding of the distribution of sargassum blooms across the Tropical Atlantic. Research questions asked are: How can we improve monitoring and detection of sargassum events at multiple scales?; How can we better detect and track sargassum pathways across the Tropical Atlantic?; What opportunities exist to improve beach detection and monitoring in cloud covered regions? Data are collected from: field campaigns in Ghana and Barbados, time-series analysis of sargassum in West Africa, and GPS tracking of floating sargassum blooms. Results show that i) there is a distinct seasonal pattern to sargassum blooms in the Eastern Tropical Atlantic and a co-variance of the occurrence of blooms with atmospheric and oceanic events; ii) there are alternative methods of detecting blooms which overcome spatial and temporal limitations of ... Thesis North Atlantic University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton |
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University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton |
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ftsouthampton |
language |
English |
description |
Since 2011, sargassum algae blooms have been occurring in the Tropical Atlantic basin from North and Central America, through the Caribbean Sea and across to the Gulf of Guinea. The blooms are aggregated and transported by wind and currents, and deposited on coastlines across the region. They pose threats to ocean and coastal biodiversity, human health, coastal stability, industries such as tourism and aquaculture, and ultimately the livelihoods of coastal communities. Since the emergence of this new social-environmental challenge, there has been an increase in research and knowledge of sargassum. Most research has focused mainly on the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean and North Atlantic Ocean and significant regional knowledge gaps exist. For example, in the Gulf of Guinea and Central America, there is much we do not know about sargassum. More specifically, in the under-researched geographic areas further data are needed on beaching events, different species and morphotypes, chemical composition, volume of sargassum, and the drivers of the blooms across the basin. This thesis aims to address these knowledge gaps by developing methods and creating datasets to improve the spatial and temporal understanding of the distribution of sargassum blooms across the Tropical Atlantic. Research questions asked are: How can we improve monitoring and detection of sargassum events at multiple scales?; How can we better detect and track sargassum pathways across the Tropical Atlantic?; What opportunities exist to improve beach detection and monitoring in cloud covered regions? Data are collected from: field campaigns in Ghana and Barbados, time-series analysis of sargassum in West Africa, and GPS tracking of floating sargassum blooms. Results show that i) there is a distinct seasonal pattern to sargassum blooms in the Eastern Tropical Atlantic and a co-variance of the occurrence of blooms with atmospheric and oceanic events; ii) there are alternative methods of detecting blooms which overcome spatial and temporal limitations of ... |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Fidai, Yanna Alexia |
spellingShingle |
Fidai, Yanna Alexia A spatial and temporal assessment of sargassum blooms in the tropical Atlantic |
author_facet |
Fidai, Yanna Alexia |
author_sort |
Fidai, Yanna Alexia |
title |
A spatial and temporal assessment of sargassum blooms in the tropical Atlantic |
title_short |
A spatial and temporal assessment of sargassum blooms in the tropical Atlantic |
title_full |
A spatial and temporal assessment of sargassum blooms in the tropical Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
A spatial and temporal assessment of sargassum blooms in the tropical Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
A spatial and temporal assessment of sargassum blooms in the tropical Atlantic |
title_sort |
spatial and temporal assessment of sargassum blooms in the tropical atlantic |
publisher |
University of Southampton |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/490802/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/490802/1/PhD_Thesis_Yanna_Alexia_Fidai_pdfA3.pdf https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/490802/2/Final-thesis-submission-Examination-Miss-Yanna-Fidai.pdf |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/490802/1/PhD_Thesis_Yanna_Alexia_Fidai_pdfA3.pdf https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/490802/2/Final-thesis-submission-Examination-Miss-Yanna-Fidai.pdf Fidai, Yanna Alexia (2024) A spatial and temporal assessment of sargassum blooms in the tropical Atlantic. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis, 197pp. |
op_rights |
uos_thesis |
_version_ |
1802647888537321472 |