Bio-optical trends of seas around Turkey: An assessment of the spatial and temporal variability

Until present, bio-optical characteristics and their variations in the eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea have rarely been studied. In order to characterize the basic features of bio-optical variables found in the seas surrounding Turkey, remotely sensed data sets covering the period between September 1997 and March 2017 were studied for the purpose of this research. Chlorophyll-a concentration (CHL), absorption coefficient by colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and particulate backscattering coefficient (BBP) were both evaluated to describe their recent linear and non-linear inter-annual patterns in the sub regions of the northern Levantine Sea (LS), the eastern Aegean Sea (AS), the Marmara Sea (MS) and the southern Black Sea (BS). The results determined a highly significant and decreasing trend of CHL in the Black Sea, whilst most other regions from the seas around Turkey displayed non-significant trends. The analysis indicated that the seas around Turkey can be clustered into two regions based on their bio-optical properties; one being the Black Sea and Marmara Sea, and the second cluster being the Aegean Sea and Levantine Sea. (C) 2018 Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting by Elsevier Sp. z o.o.