Remotely Searching for Noctiluca Miliaris in the Arabian Sea

Reversing monsoonal winds in the Arabian Sea result in two seasons with elevated biological activity, namely the annual summer Southwest Monsoon (SWM; June to September) and winter Northeast Monsoon (NEM; November to March) [Wiggert et al., 2005]. Generally speaking, the SWM and NEM create two geographically distinct blooms [Banse and English, 2000; Levy et al., 2007]. In the summer, winds from the southwest drive offshore Ekman transport and coastal upwelling along the northwestern coast of Africa, which brings nutrient-rich water to the surface from below the permanent thermocline [Bauer et al., 1991]. In the winter, cooling of the northern Arabian Sea causes surface waters to sink, which generates convective mixing that injects nutrients throughout the upper mixed layer [Madhupratap et al., 1996]. This fertilization of otherwise nutrient-deplete surface waters produces one of the most substantial seasonal extremes of phytoplankton biomass and carbon flux anywhere in the world [Smith, 2005]