Remote Sensing Observations on Impact of Phailin Cyclone on Phytoplankton Distribution in Northern Bay of Bengal

Remote sensing-based analysis has been carried out to study the impact of “Phailin” cyclone on ocean phytoplankton distribution off Odisha coast and on the northern Bay of Bengal water. Oceansat-2 Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM) and MODISTerra sensors-derived chlorophyll images have been generated over the study area during October 2013. There has been observation of drastic change in the chlorophyll concentration of the north-western Bay of Bengal water with effect of the cyclone “Phailin,” which hit Gopalpur, Odisha coast on 12 October night at around 21:00 h IST. The postcyclone images of Oceansat-2 OCM data and retrieved chlorophyll concentration were observed to be very high, 3.0-4.0 mg/m³ in coastal water, which was around 0.5-1.0 mg/m³ during precyclone. Similarly, the postcyclone chlorophyll was around 0.80-1.50 mg/m³ in the offshore water, unusually high compared to precyclone concentration (<;0.60 mg/m³). The cyclone track of India Meteorological Department (IMD) has been superimposed on chlorophyll images and observed as proxy along the chlorophyll front with algal bloom features. There has been observation of cooling in the northern Bay of Bengal and off Odisha coast with impact of the induced upwelling, entrainment and mixing of the water column, as evident from the sea surface temperature (SST) data analysis. Interesting features such as cold core eddies and fronts have been visualized. This study is important to assess the impact of Phailin cyclone on ocean productivity on the local and basin scale and its deviation from seasonal trend as well.