Monitoring of Algal Blooms and Massive Fish Kill in the Jakarta Bay, Indonesia using Satellite Imageries

The water environment in the Jakarta Bay gets more and more stress due to heavy eutrophication and pollution. In this study, we monitored the concentration of chlorophyll-a as an indicator of eutrophication using Terra and Aqua MODIS (Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer) satellites data from 2004 to 2007. During those periods, there were seven occurrences of massive fish kill, 2 cases in 2004, 3 in 2005, and 2 in 2007, respectively. This was correlated to the algal blooms, which were indicated by high chlorophyll-a concentration exceed than 10 mg/m3 and covered more than a quarter of the bay. However, there were no fish kill occurred in 2006 at all, although stronger and more intense algal blooms were detected several times in that year. Weak water mass circulation and the forming of oxygen depletion after algal blooms ware suspected as the key factors that caused massive fish kills. Therefore, monitoring water mass circulation pattern and oxygen depletion is needed for developing the early warning system of the algal blooms in the Jakarta Bay. EORC-Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).