Chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) levels offer insights into oceanic ecosystems, affecting marine life and environmental conditions. A five-year average of Chl-a data provides a visual representation of Malaysia’s marine ecoregions, aiding in understanding ecosystem dynamics. The Chl-a is often used as a proxy for phytoplankton biomass, serving as an indicator for environmental changes especially nutrients level. The Chl-a concentration can inform how anthropogenic activities (coastal development) in the country and changes in climate affect the nutrient level in the water, allowing evaluation of the physiological implications to marine ecosystems. The time-averaged comparisons reveal changes in chlorophyll-a, identifying regions with notable increment for potential further investigation into marine ecosystem impacts. 

The overall average Chl-a level has increased by 0.01 mg/m3  from 0.55 mg/m3 (2003-2007) to 0.56 mg/m3 (2018-2022) in the Malaysia marine ecoregions. The increment indicates a slightly higher concentration of phytoplankton in the sea surface. A higher concentration of phytoplankton can be caused by a variety of natural and anthropogenic factors.  The data hope to raise awareness of focused local investigative studies should be conducted at concerning areas depicted. 

Chlorophyll-a concentration data is derived from radiance measurements collected by NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites using the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments. The dataset comprises chlorophyll-a concentration information represented as a CSV format with three columns: x-coordinate, y-coordinate, and corresponding chlorophyll-a concentration, mg/m3 value. 

Hai Ping Yu & Hin Boo Wee (2023). Five-Years Time Series Averages and Differences (2003-2007 vs 2018-2022) of Chlorophyll-a Concentration, mg.m3 in Malaysia. Institute of Climate Change, UKM. MyIKLIM database. Available online: https://myiklimysd.ukm.my/ecsh_002_ikl/ [accessed on: enter date]