Remote Sensing of Ulva Prolifera Green Tide in the Yellow Sea Using Multisource Satellite Data: Progress and prospects

As a marine ecological disaster caused by the explosive proliferation of green macroalgae, green tide impairs economic development and ecological environment, affecting dozens of regions worldwide. The largest green tide in the world occurred in the Yellow Sea, with Ulva prolifera (U. prolifera) as the dominant species. Satellite remote sensing technology, with its advantages of large-scale, long-time series, and traceability, plays a significant role in U. prolifera monitoring, providing important support for obtaining deeper scientific understanding and promoting disaster prevention and control. To systematically and comprehensively summarize the research progress and identify weaknesses and priorities for future development, this study has reviewed over 350 articles on "U. prolifera green tide remote sensing in the Yellow Sea" published before November 2023 from three aspects: remote sensing mechanisms (electromagnetic scattering and remote sensing image features), methods (detection, coverage area retrieval, species discrimination, biomass estimation, drift velocity determination, etc.), and applications (growth and decay, interannual variabilities, etc.). Additionally, the challenges, opportunities, and development priorities are analyzed. The findings in this study will promote the future development of U. prolifera remote sensing technology to assist disaster prevention and ecosystem protection.

As a marine ecological disaster caused by the explosive proliferation of green macroalgae, green tides impair economic development and the ecological environment, affecting dozens of regions worldwide. The largest green tide in the world occurs in the Yellow Sea, with Ulva prolifera (U. prolifera) the dominant species. Satellite remote sensing technology, with its advantages of a large scale, a long time series, and traceability, plays a significant role in U. prolifera monitoring, providing important support for obtaining deeper scientific understanding and promoting disaster prevention and control. To systematically and comprehensively summarize research progress and identify weaknesses and priorities for future development, this article reviews over 350 articles on U. prolifera green tide remote sensing in the Yellow Sea, published before November 2023 from three aspects: remote sensing mechanisms (electromagnetic scattering and remote sensing image features), methods (detection, coverage area retrieval, species discrimination, biomass estimation, drift velocity determination, and so on), and applications (growth and decay, interannual variabilities, and so forth). Additionally, challenges, opportunities, and development priorities are analyzed (see “Article Contents”). The findings in this article promote the future development of U. prolifera remote sensing technology to assist with disaster prevention and ecosystem protection.