Original scientific paper
Relationship between the mucilage phenomenon and some concomitant environmental variables in the northern-Adriatic lagoon of Stella Maris, Umag, Croatia
Neda Fanuko
; Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Rijeka, Croatia
Marko Valčić
orcid.org/0000-0001-5352-4594
; Faculty of Maritime Studies Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
Julije Skenderović
Abstract
The appearance of mucilage episodes and some meteorological and oceanographic variables were daily monitored during a 1-year period in the shallow macro-tidal northern-Adriatic lagoon of Stella Maris, Umag (Croatia). The phenomenon than appeared in the seawater in the form of gelatinous flocks, patches and stringers of various size and colour was recorded from April to September 2005. The environmental data collected during that period (air and water temperature, wind force and wind direction, tides, water density and salinity, current speed and current direction) were compared by means of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to the winter parameters when the mucilage was absent. From the results obtained using the PCA method, we assumed that the changes in current speed, wind force and wind direction during the spring and summer period were able to affect density, tides and salinity which then became decisive factors that contributed to the accumulation of the mucilage aggregates. Similar findings documented in the whole northern Adriatic are discussed in this paper.
Keywords
northern Adriatic; mucilage; oceanographic conditions; PCA
Hrčak ID:
24800
URI
Publication date:
23.6.2008.
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