Summertime Phytoplankton Bloom in the South Sulawesi Sea

During southeast (SE) monsoon, strong southeasterly winds induce offshore phytoplankton bloom in the South Sulawesi Sea (SSS). Alongshore wind stress, through interaction with the land topography, is suspected to be the main driving force. The bloom begins in June, enhances in July and reaches peak in August (1.3 mg/m³), then weakens in September. The bloom events coincide perfectly with the low SST and strong wind occurrences. Using advance satellite remote sensing measurements of chlorophyll-a (Chl a), sea surface temperature (SST), and sea surface vector winds for May-September 2004, we describe the seasonal and spatial distributions of the summertime phytoplankton bloom and related oceanographic features in the SSS.