BLOOMS OF EMILIANIA-HUXLEYI (PRYMNESIOPHYCEAE) IN SURFACE WATERS OF THE NOVA-SCOTIAN SHELF AND THE GRAND BANK

High concentrations of the coccolithophorid Emiliania huxleyi (Lohm.) Hay et Mohler and/or its detached coccoliths occurred in or near high-reflectance patches observed in contemporaneous visible Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) imagery of the Nova Scotian Shelf and the Grand Bank. This is the first substantiated record of satellite-detected E.huxleyi blooms from these regions and extends our knowledge of their occurrence in the Western North Atlantic. The often large areal extent of these blooms, as determined previously from archived satellite imagery, suggests that they have a significant influence on the biogeochemistry and ecology of these regions.