Solar Activity and Algal-bloom Occurrences in the Northern Adriatic Sea: Geomagnetic Connection

Summary

The high-speed particle flux (solar wind) escaping from the Sun controls the geomagnetic activity at middle latitudes. The latter is found to be negatively correlated to the difference of atmospheric pressure between January and April averaged out in the area of the Northern Adriatic. This difference is again related to the water volume flowing from the South into the Northern Adriatic Sea and is a necessary (though not sufficient) condition for the occurrence of strong algal-blooms in summer. A physical model involving geomagnetic activity, mean atmospheric pressured difference between latitude 35 °N and 55 °N in the European area and atmospheric pressure difference from winter to spring in the Northern Adriatic basin is proposed. The possibility of predicting the long-term variations of geomagnetic activity allows one to obtain long-term predictions of winter minus spring pressure and therefore indications of the risk of strong summer-time algal-bloom episodes.