Physico-chemical properties of surface sea water in associate to phytoplankton bloom in Kota Kinabalu waters

• Main Author: Elvia Cory Abu Hasan
• Format: Academic Exercise
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: SB Plant culture
• Online Access: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/13169/1/ae0000002817.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/13169/

The study of physico-chemical properties of surface seawater in associate to phytoplankton bloom was conducted in Kota Kinabalu waters. Field sampling had been done six times from September 2007 to February 2008. There were 14 sampling stations that covers the waters in Sepanggar Bay (transect 1), UMS waters (transect 2), Likas Bay (transect 3), Kota Kinabalu (station 8 and 9) and Tg. Aru (transect 4). The physiochemical properties of surface seawater (temperature, salinity, pH and DO) were measured by using the Hanna Multi-parameter Water Quality Meter, HI9828. The water turbidity was measured by using secchi disk. During the sampling period, diatom and dinoflagellate blooms were observed on December 2007 and February 2008 respectively. There were no significant differences in surface seawater physico-chemical properties when comparing between each station but significantly varies between each sampling time. During non-bloom period, temperature ranges from 29°C to 30°C. Salinity ranges from 29 ppt to 30 ppt and pH was slightly alkaline (8.4-8.7). DO values ranges from 6.2 mg/L to 7.0 mg/L. During a diatom bloom (sampling 3), DO was reduced to 4.63 mg/L while during blooming of dinoflagellate (sampling 6), the seawater had become slightly acidic with a pH of 6.49. Detail measurement of physico-chemical need to be done comprehensively during algal bloom period to identify the impact of diatom and dinoflagellate density to seawater properties.