COMPUTATIONAL TOOLS FOR THE ANALYSIS OF OCEANOGRAPHIC VARIABLES AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF MARINE

SPECIES IN THE COLOMBIAN PACIFIC Daz-Guevara1, D.C;

1

Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano, Sede Bogot. Carrera 4 No. 22-61, Bogot, Colombia. dianac.diaz@utadeo.edu.co.

ABSTRACT The space-time behavior of oceanographic variables such as sea surface temperature, chlorophyll, dissolved organic matter, and the diffuse attenuation coefficient of the Colombian Pacific Basin (CPB) was studied during the period 2003 to 2010, by means of the computational tool SeaWiFS Data Analysis System (SeaDAS). The influence was evaluated of these parameters on the distribution and abundance of certain pelagic species of commercial interest to the country, and for this purpose the environmental conditions and the catch records (which allow for the estimation of the population dynamics of the species) were consulted and all of the information was represented in maps elaborated with the tools PBSmapping and PBSmodelling from the software R2.11.0. With the established methodology the analysis of the geo-referenced data was facilitated and the products were designed to describe and understand complex relationships between them. The created maps contain useful statistical information, and they have the advantage of being made with free software that employs standard programming languages such as C or IDL. The maps were constructed with a data structure defined by the typical design concepts of R, using functions and implementing the necessary algorithms to graph, plot the grids, calculate the area of the polygons, and estimate correlations between them. Additionally with SeaDAS, ranges were selected and isolated of optimal climatic variables for the species, which allowed for the design of alternatives for the sustainable management of the resources. The conclusion of this project presents an approach to problems in the field of bioclimatology, which involves the study of oceanographic and/or meteorological variables and their effect on marine ecosystems, specifically in the case of the Colombian Pacific. Key Words: Remote Sensors, GIS, SeaDAS, PBSmapping, Marine Resources.

INTRODUCTION The use of remote sensors has permitted oceanographic studies to be carried out in regions where sufficient information was previously unavailable for further knowledge of the land system. They are permanently used for the estimation of bio-optical variables that facilitate all types of investigations related to the ocean. With the information collected by the sensors for example, the following factors can be estimated: sea surface temperature (SST), clorophyll concentration (Clh), dissolved organic matter (CDOM), diffuse attenuation coefficient (k490), and other oceanographic or meteorological variables with which it is possible in turn to characterize bodies of water and also to determine patterns of distribution and abundance of species present in the studied system.

Currently remote sensing, geographical information systems (GIS), and mapping play a major role in the formulation of strategies for the development and sustainable management of natural resources (Selvaraj 2009). The present article is focused on the application of these computational tools with the end of protecting Colombias marine resources. The purpose is also to promote this type of work to get the attention of the individuals and institutions involved in this sector of the economy and to make the implementation of these new tools and technologies effective (FAO 2007). In this vein, an application example is presented that, beyond showing the results found, seeks to share a methodology that can be reproduced in any case study with a similar objective. The two tools mentioned are in essence different, as remote sensing is the medium through which the information is obtained, and the GIS is what provides the organization and availability of the data to create static maps for investigation, or for operations in real time. In the majority of the cases the acquisition of data is one of the first obstacles that needs to be overcome, and for this reason a free method of obtaining information is presented. The first people in the world to use remote sensors for the estimation of productive regions of commercial interest were Kapetsky & Caddy (1985), Mooneyhan (1985), and Travaglia & Appelkamp (1985). In Colombia there are projects in which physical and biological aspects of the Colombian Pacific Ocean (CPO) are described for different periods of time through on-site information and products derived from satellite images. It is Andrade & Barton (2000) who evaluated the color of the ocean in the Colombian Caribbean, and Melo (2002), Orejarena et al. (2004), and Malikov & Villegas (2005) who studied the space-time variation of physical variables in the marine areas of Colombia to calculate their primary productivity, all using remote sensors. Also employing computational tools, DIMARs Area of Operational Oceanography has studied the Sea Surface Temperature (SST), surface chlorophyll a, and geostrophic currents in the Colombian Pacific Basin (CPB), as a complement to the information obtained on-site during oceanographic cruises (Bastidas y Rodrguez 2006). Other projects based on remote sensors of the CIOH have been carried out principally in the Caribbean, in distinct cases such as the evaluation of the degree of pollution in the Bay of Cartagena, the influence of the North Colombian Countercurrent on the circulation of waters at the continental shelf, and this currents effect on the dispersion of airborne effluents in the Magdalena River. Remote perception studies have been carried out on coastal oceanography, the Bay of Barbacoas, the Levee Canal, the Rosario Islands, and the bio-ecological cartography of Treasure Island. Among others, the highlights have been the remote perceptions applied to determine the circulation of surface waters in the Gulf of Urab and the variations of its coastline, the engineering analysis for protection of the coasts, and the evaluation of the annual variability of organic carbon content on the surface of the western Caribbean Sea through the registers of the CZCS. Bio-optical variables have also been used to determine distribution patterns and estimate the effective population size of some species (Rueda 2001, Pramo and Roa 2002, Pramo et al. 2003, Rueda and Defeo 2003a, b, Selvaraj 2009). Herrera (2009) carried out a study from 2006 to 2008 of richness, diversity, distribution, and relative spatial and seasonal abundance of cetaceans in the CPB using remote sensors and information collected on-site. Herrera (2009) found (cite textually) significant differences in relative abundance and richness between the two climatic periods of the year, despite great inter-annual

oceanographic differences caused by events such as El Nio and La Nia. Until now a large part of the studies published about oceanography in this country has been based on the compilation, processing, and purification of oceanographic data in the open ocean and the description of products obtained by satellite sensing, all with the end of broadening knowledge of this regionwhich is the scene of different economic activities related principally to fishing, marine aquaculture, and maritime transport. However, to ensure the sustainable development and management of marine resources, it is necessary to have a decision-making system that is supported in the investigation projects. For this reason, as mentioned at the beginning, this article presents computational tools that facilitate the analysis of oceanographic variables which determine the distribution and abundance of marine species and which allow for the identification of sectors that are either over-exploited or have sufficient resources to be used appropriately.

MATERIALS AND METHODS The area of investigation is the Colombian Pacific Basin (CPB), whose geographic limits are: the waters of the Gulf of Panama to the north; the departments of Choc, Valle del Cauca, Cauca, and Nario to the east; the waters of the Ecuadorian coast and the Carnegie underwater mountain range to the south; and the Pacific Ocean, the territorial waters of Panama, and the Cocos mountain range to the west. The CPB is located between 130N and 710N, and between 7740W and 8400W. For the present project two computational tools were used: SeaWiFS Data Analysis System (SeaDAS, http://seadas.gsfc.nasa.gov/) and PBSmapping-PBSmodelling (package for R, http://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/PBSmapping/index.html). They can be implemented easily and they have the advantage of being open source. SeaDAS is a program designed to process, visualize, analyze, and carry out quality control on data about the color of the ocean. It can read data from the sensors MODIS/Aqua, MODIS/Terra, SeaWiFS, OCTS, and CZCS, and it is a useful scientific tool for analyzing satellite images. SeaDAS allows all of the data to be processed from L0 or L1A to L3 and SMI, can reproduce the standard available products on the Web (color and SST), and works in the Linux, Mactintosh, and Sun Solaris operating systems, among others. It uses three modes of operation: Graphic interface, Command lines (IDL/UNIX), and Scripts (IDL files/UNIX shell scripts). Furthermore, PBSmapping is designed to facilitate the compilation and analysis of georeferenced data. It is designed in the R language (version R 2.11.0.), allows explorations to be carried out similar to those commonly available in the Geographic Information Systems, contains algorithms to visualize polygons, locates catches, and converts coordinates (Schnute et. al 2008).

DATA B t t Bi ti l i l i ll C tli t t t t i l l l it t i i l i l ti li t i li it B i B t t t t i i t i t i t ti t t t t t i it i M IS B 1, and second compiling a script (Annex 1) in PBSmapping. This second way requires the topography information that can be downloaded from the website created by Smith and Sandwell (http://topex.ucsd.edu/cgi bin/get_data.cgi), who generated the data (one-minute grid) from satellite altimetry and on-site information. The downloaded file is in ASCII format, and with the read.table function in R it is converted into a data frame, then with the function makeTopography it is transformed into a list of objects with vectors x, y and z. Another option is to use the ETOPO base via the National Geophysical Data Center Grid Translator (GEODAS, 2006). It i t ti l t Cl : C tli

Figure 1: Bathymetry of the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

The monthly climatological data for the bio-optical variables for the period 2002 to 2010 with a resolution of 4km were taken from the products made by NASA s Ocean Biology Processing Group (http://oceancolor.gsfc.nasa.gov/) through the sensors MODIS and SeaWiFS. Finally, the study-object species were chosen, especially those of commercial interest or those about which there is sufficient information regarding their habitat and biology. There are complete databases on the Web such as http://www.fao.org/fishery/species/, http://firms.fao.org/firms/summaries/en, and http://www.fishbase.org/search.php, and additionally it is ideal to use national sources. Table 1 contains information about the principally-fished species in Colombia between 2000 and 2007 (FAO 2007).

SCIENTIFIC NAME A RIIDAE B IVALVIA B RACHYURA CARANX SPP CENTROPOMUS SPP CETENGRAULIS MYSTICETUS CLUPEOIDEI CYNOSCION ANALIS E PINEPHELUS ANALOGUS E UTHYNNUS LINEATUS GERREIDAE KATSUWONUS PELAMIS LOLIGINIDAE, OMMASTREPHIDAE LUTJANUS ARGENTIVENTRIS LUTJANUS SPP MERLUCCIUS
ANGUSTIMANUS

2000 488 10 38 568 83 25,099 0 317 85 79 18 5,661 87 182 620 0 237 28 678 210 601 3,378 1,219 590 160 831 24,158 0 686 9,758 230 2,539

2001 94 1 74 217 37 25,028 2,708 230 139 120 58 1,813 76 51 477 391 155 22 520 66 4 4,135 979 282 171 379 43,840 91 522 16,085 103 716

2002 82 4 596 223 37 28,879 454 211 47 0 91 2,080 68 107 411 0 176 28 357 106 13 4,412 561 213 79 361 0 0 1 15,975 159 561

2003 56 1 114 129 1 25,269 0 6 8 0 0 12,334 42 47 134 54 107 0 1 32 0 1,053 846 62 82 0 0 0 688 41,824 1,458 846

2004 64 2 551 229 44 21,170 0 138 43 0 40 5,866 25 51 245 61 115 43 368 55 910 1,340 350 70 7 232 35,086 70 208 19,603 978 511

2005 5 31 417 58 6 5,081 0 14 2 0 0 11,087 9 41 121 85 35 1 339 54 7 749 325 0 32 179 22,933 4 339 21,908 3,000 413

2006 10 20 450 120 20 13,000 0 30 10 0 0 21,159 10 40 180 70 50 10 350 55 50 3,083 330 0 20 200 10,320 20 320 13,006 5,240 450

2007 10 20 450 120 20 13,000 0 30 10 25 0 17,431 10 40 180 70 50 10 350 55 50 3,110 330 0 20 200 10,320 20 320 15,797 2,940 450

MICROPOGONIAS SPP MUGILIDAE MUSTELUS SPP MYCTEROPERCA XENARCHA NATANTIA OSTEICHTHYES PENAEUS OCCIDENTALIS PERCIFORMES PLEURONECTIFORMES SCOMBEROMORUS SIERRA SCOMBROIDEI SERIOLA SPP SOLENOCERA AGASSIZII THUNNUS ALBACARES THUNNUS OBESUS X IPHOPENAEUS RIVETI

Table 1: Principally-fished species in tons (FAO) in the Eastern Colombian Pacific.

RESULTS The first stage of the Project consisted of generating the products of the chosen bio-optical variables, and each image was composed of data from the average monthly multi-annual data from the period 2002 to 2010. Temperature fronts, zones of high chlorophyll concentration, and dissolved organic matter were identified during the year. In Table 2, the characteristics observed in each case are briefly described. Variable and Range SST (C) Description On average, values between 22 and 28C are observed. In the first months of the year (January to April) SST increases from east to west, however thermal fronts are identified on the Colombian coast and in Panamanian waters. The rest of the year the gradient signals

lower temperatures to the south and greater temperatures in the center and north of the CPB. Chlorophyll The values oscillate between approximately 0.5 and 7mg/m-3 for the (mgm-3 ) different regions with the greatest values being concentrated near the Min: 0.01 southern Colombian coast, although they are not comparable with the Max: 10 values that appear in Panamanian territory. -1 K490 (m ) K490 indicates the waters vertical attenuation coefficient for a Min: 0.01 wavelength of 490nm, and it is observed that near the Colombian Max: 5 coast values between 0.3 and 1.5m-1 are maintained during the whole year. The greatest values for the entire Basin are obtained between January and April (0.1-1), and then go down 0.02. K=0.02 demonstrates the transmission of blue light and indicates the presence of principally organic acids and inorganic salts in this region. K=0.2 to 2 indicates transmission of blue light through water that is cloudier, which in turn indicates a reduction in the energy stored in the water column, so almost all of the energy can be absorbed in the first 10m. CDOM It is observed in the coastal region that values between 2.00 and 3.50 are maintained throughout, while in the oceanic region a decrease is observed in the dissolved organic matter, which is usual. In this case the variable is useful for identifying if the signal moving toward the green is really an indicator of high chlorophyll concentration or if it is due to the presence of dissolved organic matter whose spectral response is very similar. Fluorescence This is a relative measure of the quantity of radiation that leaves the (mWcm-2m- surface of the ocean through emissions of chlorophyll fluorescence. 1 -1 This variable is considerably high during April and May and minimal sr ) from September to November. When the phytoplankton is under Min: 0 stress it emits sunlight which is absorbed as fluorescence, and this Max: 0.05 gives information about the photosynthetic activity that is occurring. For the CPB the values oscillate between 0.02 and 0.04. POC (mg m-3) This is the indicator of undissolved carbon, and during the whole year Min: 10 average values are found to be higher than 50mgm3 . The Max: 1000 concentrations near the Panamanian coast and along the coastline stand out, as they can increase to 300mgm3 or more, especially in the period from February to April. PIC (mol m-3 ) 0.02mol/m3 is the maximum concentration of inorganic particulate Min: 5e-05 matter on the coast. In the rest of the region the concentrations are Max: 0.02 minimal and do not exceed 0.0002 mol/m3. Table 2: Description of the annual variability of bio-optical variables in the Colombian Pacific Ocean.

With the recorded observations it is possible to identify some sectors with well-defined thermal fronts, especially during the period from January to April. During the second semester they are less perceptible because of the displacement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) to the north, which intensifies the wind field over the Colombian Pacific and generates movement in the surface water layers, thereby modifying the temperature of the water column. The presence of these fronts can also explain the possible inflow of water from the California current to the north and the Peruvian Current

to the south, however the characteristics of the Basin s seabed do not permit a considerable exchange of deep waters from the central Pacific. Variable such as chlorophyll, CDOM, s POC, and reflectance show that during February, March, and even April the greatest ceanic region, for which photosynthetic activity is achieved in a large part of the Basin s o reason it is an important time for the food web of this marine ecosystem. In the coastal zone the photosynthetic activity is permanent, however the principal limiting factor is the small amount of radiation penetration in the water column according to what is demonstrated by the values for K490, possibly due to the concentration of particulate matter in suspension and dissolved organic matter.

Figure 2: Annual variability of SST from 2002 to 2010 in the CPB.

Figure 3: Annual variability of CDOM from 2002 to 2010 in the CPB.

From the produced images whose succinct description is presented in Table 2, the data were taken for different points in the Colombian Pacific, and with the ShipTrack SeaDAS function these data were filtered and compared with some previous registers reported in the scientific literature. This information, added to the catch data and to an additional variable called vertical upwelling velocity (Vz), was graphed using PBSmapping with the end of locating zones of high photosynthetic activity in the Basin and their relationship to the catches per unit of effort (CPUE). The following species were selected: Optim l Temperature Species Range for its Growth Katsuwonuspelamis (Skipjack Tuna) 15-30 Thunnusalbacares (Yellowfin Tuna) 15-31 Cetengraulismysticetus (Shoal) 24-28 Thunnusobesus (Bigeye Tuna) 13-29 Table 3: Preliminarily chosen species. With the temperature data and the Contour SeaDAS function, the regions of the Basin with that temperature were identifiedinformation that was later exported to PBSmapping. Two examples are later presented of the graphs obtained, which do not necessarily correspond to real data as they are preliminary results that are still being developed. However, as mentioned at the beginning, the type of analysis that can be carried out with these computational tools is illustrated. Figure 4 shows the result of the overlap of catch records and bio-optical variables, and the location of the grids indicates regions of high photosynthetic activity. The dots are catch information and the color is the index of CPUE. Figure 5 presents potential zones for fishing activity (in clear green grids) through the correlation between the variables from Table 2 and Vz.

Figure 4. Overlap of catch records and bio-optical variables. The location of the grids indicates regions of high photosynthetic activity, the dots indicate catch information, and the color indicates CPUE.

Figure 5. Determination of potential zones for fishing activity, taking into account the variables from Table 2 and Vz. The color indicates the magnitude of Vz (m/s).

Discussion The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) has divided the globe into 27 principal fishing areas. The Colombian Pacific Ocean belongs to region 87 (southeastern Pacific), North subarea, and divisi n 1.11, mostly 1.21 (Figure 6).

Figure 6. Principal fishing areas according to the FAO (FAO 2007). According to the FAO registers, fishing activity has increased considerabl in Colombia, y and in Figures 7a and 7b this climb in the number of tons caught can be observed, especially from the 1990s to the present, exceeding 140,000 tons caught and 65,000 tons from aquaculture.

Figure 7a: Tons Caught in Colombia (FAO 2010).

Figure 7b: Aquaculture Production in Tons (FAO 2010).

This suggests that each day marine resources are more commercialized. The presented tools allow the effect of environmental conditions on the marine ecosystem to be illustrated, as well as the impact these conditions have on the dynamic of the species, especially pelagic species that during all stages of life remain in the same habitat. Tuna, billfishes, and others are pelagic and the physical factors that affect the tropical and subtropical Pacific Ocean can exercise important effects on their distribution and abundance (CIAT 2010). The environmental conditions cause considerable variability in the recruitment of the resources, for example el Ni o, which produces a sinking in the thermocline and leads to a reduction in the catch rates of tuna. A change in SST can make fish move from an area with warm or cold waters to a more favorable area. The results obtained show a relationship between the studied variables and the loc ation of the species of commercial interest, but what is really important is how the different tools can be combined in order to locate regions in which aquaculture activities could be developed so as not to exhaust natural resources. The presented results are only a start, and currently the final objective is the creation of multispecies ecosystem models that represent the ecological interactions among species. For example, personnel from CIAT have developed a model of the pelagic ecosystem in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean (CIAT Bulletin, Vol. 22, No. 3) to relate climatic factors to fishing, and their effect on the trophic levels. However, the resolution of this model is regional, a fact that makes it necessary to continue this type of work (which does not require software licenses and can be achieved on a local scale ).

Conclusion With the methodology presented for analyzing geo-referenced data for bio-optical variables and the catching of pelagic species in the Pacific, products and maps were designed with information that allows zones of high primary productivity to be estimated. They have the advantage of being made with free software that use standard programming s languages such as C or IDL, and the maps were built with an R data structure using the PBSmapping package. The project shows a way of approaching problems in the fiel of d bioclimatology, which implies the study of oceanographic and/o meteorological variables r and their effect on marine ecosystems, specifically in the case of the Colombian Pacific.

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