Discussion

Phytoplankton Bloom at Northern Borneo

17-24 Nov 2003

3-10 Dec 2003

9-16 Jan 2004

Dominant Southwest direction current along the coast
Cloudy during December 2003
In November, Chlorophyll a was high in along coast of Brunei and southern southwestern Sabah, and inside the Brunei Bay. Most of the east coast of Sabah was moderate.
In Jan 2004, Northern tip of Sabah and its west coast at Sandakan showed increasing chlorophyll a concentration. The advection of the coastal high chlorophyll a water can be clearly observed.
There was high possibility that the red tide will spread along the coast of Borneo following the southwest current.

Changes of Current Direction during the end of January 2004?

Big blooming occurred off Brunei and Kota Kinabaru (25 Jan – 1 Feb 2004)
The advection of high chlorophyll a water off Brunei seem to be at the opposite direction of the normal southwest a long shore current
The high chlorophyll water can still be observed until the following week

Upwelling at northern Borneo?

	1-8 Jan 2004
	9-16 Jan 2004

During early January, coastal water along Sabah, Brunei and Sarawak is basically warm. Slight cooler water off Kudat and the eastern coast of Sabah.
The following week, a cooler branch of water appear off Kudat that extended off shore towards southwest direction
This cooler area was coincident with the higher chlorophyll a content at MODIS images.