Fresh water impact on chlorophyll a distribution at northeast coast of the Bay of Bengal analyzed through in-situ and satellite data

The distribution of phytoplankton pigments were studied bimonthly at four stations from the mouth of Mahanadi River at Paradip to the 36.7km off coast in Bay of Bengal during April 2001 to December 2002. Bottom depth was shallower than 40m in all stations. The pigment concentration of Chl-a was measured. It increased from surface to bottom in the water column. The water column integrated chlorophyll-a concentration (Chl-a) varied between 6.1 and $48.5mg{\cdot}m-^2$ with peaks during monsoon period (Aug & Oct). Spatial distribution of salinity depended strongly on freshwater runoff. The salinity was 5psu at river mouth and 25.15psu at offshore in monsoon period; however it was 30psu at the river mouth in summer. We found a linear relationship between the amount of river discharge and integrated Chl-a in coastal region from 2 years observations. Extending this result, we analyzed rainfall and coastal Chl-a using satellite data. The relationship between the river discharge and monthly accumulated rainfall estimated from TRMM and others data sources was analyzed in 2001 and 2002 using Giovanni infrastructure provided by NASA. The result depended on the specified area on TRMM images; the river delta area had sharper relationship than wider rain catchments area. Moreover, the relationship between monthly averaged Chl-a derived from SeaWiFS and monthly accumulated rainfall estimated from TRMM was analyzed from 1998 to 2005. It was clear that the broom in monsoon period was strongly controlled by rainfall on river delta.