CNR ExploRA

Articolo in rivista, 2022, ENG, 10.3390/ jmse10040461

Towards the Prediction of Favourable Conditions for the Harmful Algal Bloom Onset of Ostreopsis ovata in the Ligurian Sea Based on Satellite and Model Data

Lapucci C., Maselli F., Chini Zittelli G., Betti G., Vannucchi V., Perna M., Taddei S., Gozzini B., Ortolani A., Brandini C.

National Research Council Institute for BioEconomy (IBE), Via Madonna del Piano, 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy; LaMMA Consortium, Via Madonna del Piano, 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Florence, Italy; Regione Toscana-Settore Genio Civile Valdarno Centrale, Regional Council of Tuscany, Via Cavour 2, 50129 Florence, Italy

In recent years, the occurrence of Ostreopsis ovata (O. ovata) Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) has increased in the coasts of the Ligurian Sea, causing problems to the marine environment and human health. Favourable conditions for O. ovata bloom are triggered by many drivers, many of which are still under investigation, but we hypothesize that this phenomenon can be simulated using a reduced number of major meteo-marine factors, namely water temperature and remixing. Satellite and model data obtained and derived from Copernicus service, namely Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and SignificantWave Height (SWH), were therefore investigated as possible proxies of these local factors. A simplified conceptual model, built on such proxies, was developed and applied to yield a synthetic indicator informative on O. ovata abundance. The model was tested in two study areas in the Ligurian Sea, Marina di Pisa and Marina di Massa in Tuscany, Italy. The results obtained show that the synthetic indicator is able to account for about 35% of the temporal variability of O. ovata bloom occurrence in the two study areas.

Journal of marine science and engineering 10 (4), pp. Article number 461–?