The relation of chlorophyll-a concentration with the reflectance peak near 700 nm in algae-dominated waters and sensitivity of fluorescence algorithms for detecting algal bloom

In order to investigate the relation of chlorophyll-a concentration with the reflectance peak near 700 nm, reflectance spectra of harmful algal bloom (HAB) species and non-HAB algae were obtained based on in situ measurements in the oceans and cultural tank data. It is found that the fluorescence line heights (FLH) of reflectance spectra and the concentrations of seawater chlorophyll-a have good correlation; their coefficients of determination are larger than 0.86, excepting Ceratium furca and Heterosigma akashiwo. It is specially noted that for some algae, such as Dicrateria zhanjiangensis Hu., Pyramimonas sp. and Nitzschia closterium, the corresponding coefficients of determination exceed 0.95. In addition, the various satellite fluorescence algorithms were compared, and the sensitivity of fluorescence algorithms was investigated. It is found that the designed bands of Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) are more reasonable than those of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) for detecting algal bloom.