Evaluating the Performance of MODIS FLH Ocean Color Algorithm in Detecting the Harmful Algae Blooms in the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman

Detecting and monitoring harmful algae blooms (HABs) outbreaks are facing significant challenges at both local and regional scales. Red tide outbreaks in the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman have caused a number of negative effects during the last few affecting therefore the daily human life. The objective of this project is to validate the existing MODIS ocean color algorithm (FLH and nFLH) to detect and monitor red tide outbreaks in the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman Therefore, the model can be used as early warning and daily monitoring tools of red tide outbreaks in the Arabian Gulf. The results show that, the correlation between FLH, normalized FLH and in situ chlorophyll show R-2 of 0.58 and 0.57, respectively. The FLH performance is affected by the impact of bottom on the blue and green reflectance, high turbidity of the atmosphere caused by the suspended aerosol particles that increase the reflectance detected by the satellite and water sediments.