Figure 1.
Bathymetry and general circulation of the Red Sea.
a) Bathymetry of the Red Sea. At the southern part the Red Sea connects with the Gulf of Aden via the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. b) Schematic representation of the general circulation of the Red Sea (figure copied and updated from Johns et al. [34]). The circular features represent the main cyclonic and anti-cyclonic eddies at the Red Sea.
Figure 2.
Phytoplankton biomass (Chlorophyll-a) in four provinces of the Red Sea.
a) MODIS Chl-a (mg/m3) annual composite of the during (2003-present), at the Red Sea Chl-a. The four provinces consecutively starting from the North to South are the NRS, NCRS, SCRS, SRS. b) Weekly climatology of MODIS-Aqua Chl-a in the four provinces.
Figure 3.
Red Sea seasonal climatologies of MODIS Chl-a (mg/m3) and SST (°C).
The Local Area Coverage (LAC) dataset are presented for the period 2003–2011.
Figure 4.
Red Sea seasonal climatologies of QuikSCAT wind speed (m/s), for the period 2000–2009.
Winter climatology is based on averages from October to April and summer climatology from May to September). The black arrows highlight the different wind direction between the two seasonal climatologies, whereas the red arrow indicates the intrusion of water masses through the facilitation of intensive northwards winds.
Figure 5.
Vertical distribution of Chl-a profiles during October 2008 at the SRCS domain of the Red Sea.
The average of 35 stations/profiles is depicted for each depth, along with the minimum and maximum profile range. The horizontal dashed-lines represent the 1st optical depth, the mixed layer depth and the euphotic depth.