Seasonal and interannual variations in pigments in the Adriatic Sea

Spatial and temporal variability of pigments was studied from the CZCS satellite data and from in situ chlorophyll and transparency for the period 1979{1985. The three Adriatic sites, North-ern, Middle, and Southern Adriatic are dierently in uenced by meteorological, hydrological and oceanographic parameters. The dierences between seasonal in situ chlorophyll and remotely sensed pigment concentrations (from CZCS satellite data) from the Adriatic are large in winter. Through the correlation analysis, pigments were compared to meteo-oceanographic and hydrological para-meters from dierent Adriatic sites. The PCA (principal component analysis) was applied to the pigment data series and signicant components were compared. Dierent correlations are obtained for warm and cold periods of the year pointing to seasonal dierences in the underlying mecha-nism of pigment variability. The rst PC is in uenced mainly by temperature. In the warm period more parameters seem to in uence the pigment eld, than in the cold period. The pigments in the Adriatic are in good correlation to a number of hydrologic and meteo-oceanographic factors. 1