merged

Tracking of Phytoplankton Size Structure in the Southern South China Sea
(SSCS)
Nur Salehah binti Kamaruddin
Supervisor: Dr. Md. Suffian bin Idris
Bachelor of Science (Marine Science)
School of Marine and Environmental Sciences
Phytoplankton is a key component for the total primary production and contributes to
regulating pH and CO2 of the ocean. This study focuses on the determination of
phytoplankton size classes from ocean colour data in the Southern South China Sea.
Using the three-component model of Brewin et al. (2010), the size fractions of micro-
, nano- and pico-plankton were derived from the total concentration of chlorophyll.
This area shows that chlorophyll is higher during the Southwest Monsoon (SWM) and
Northeast Monsoon (NEM) and lower during inter-monsoon. The results also showed
that micro-plankton is dominant in coastal area and the Southern South China Sea
(SSCS) is dominated by pico-plankton throughout the year. Based on the overall
findings, the estimation of Phytoplankton Size Class (PSC) of ocean colour could
provide an important information about the response of phytoplankton size structure
to changes in climate and the status of the ocean ecosystem health in the study area.
1903 | UMT UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH DAY 2018