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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">ESSDD</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>Earth System Science Data Discussions</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">ESSDD</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss.</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<publisher><publisher-name></publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/essd-2026-799</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>A 1-km weekly dataset of floating &lt;em&gt;Ulva prolifera&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Sargassum horneri&lt;/em&gt; blooms in China&amp;rsquo;s marginal seas derived from multi-sensor satellite observations</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Liu</surname>
<given-names>Mingqing</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0009-1079-3677</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Chen</surname>
<given-names>Zhaotong</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Lu</surname>
<given-names>Yingcheng</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Xing</surname>
<given-names>Qianguo</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Hu</surname>
<given-names>Jiaochan</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Yu</surname>
<given-names>Haoyang</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Li</surname>
<given-names>Zhongbin B.</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Wang</surname>
<given-names>Mengqiu</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">
<sup>6</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff7">
<sup>7</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>International Institute for Earth System Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff5">
<label>5</label>
<addr-line>Information Science and Technology College, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff6">
<label>6</label>
<addr-line>Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff7">
<label>7</label>
<addr-line>Swire Institute of Marine Science, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>21</day>
<month>10</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>38</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Mingqing Liu et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-799/">This article is available from https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-799/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-799/essd-2026-799.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-799/essd-2026-799.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Floating macroalgae blooms, primarily caused by &lt;em&gt;Ulva prolifera&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Sargassum horneri&lt;/em&gt;, frequently occur in the marginal seas around China, posing significant ecological and economic challenges. &amp;nbsp;However, a long-term, high-frequency monitoring dataset capable of capturing bloom seasonality, interannual variability, and rapid transport dynamics across multiple sea regions remains limited. &amp;nbsp;In this study, we derived 1-km weekly mean &lt;em&gt;U. prolifera&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;S. horneri&lt;/em&gt; dataset covering 2018 to 2025, generated from 85,868 multi-sensor satellite images acquired from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), and Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI). &amp;nbsp;By integrating complementary observations from multiple satellite sensors, the dataset substantially improves temporal continuity and observation availability relative to single-sensor products, enabling more complete characterization of rapidly evolving macroalgal blooms. &amp;nbsp;A two-step deep learning-based approach was employed to detect and distinguish &lt;em&gt;U. prolifera&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;S. horneri&lt;/em&gt;, achieving &amp;gt;90% accuracy for both bloom extraction and species classification across sensors. &amp;nbsp;Independent validation using hyperspectral Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Ocean Color Instrument (OCI) and Sentinel-2 MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) data further supports the reliability of species discrimination. &amp;nbsp;The pair-wise cross-sensor biomass comparisons show strong consistency, with &lt;em&gt;R&amp;sup2;&lt;/em&gt; &amp;gt; 0.8 for both species. &amp;nbsp;The dataset reveals distinct spatiotemporal patterns of the two macroalgal species. &amp;nbsp;&lt;em&gt;U. prolifera&lt;/em&gt; blooms in the Yellow Sea exhibit a relatively consistent seasonal cycle from May to August, with rapid aggregation and dissipation and the highest biomass recorded in 2021, whereas &lt;em&gt;S. horneri&lt;/em&gt; shows a broader and more variable distribution across the East China Sea, with record-high biomass observed in 2024. &amp;nbsp;Weekly observations further resolve rapid bloom aggregation, transport, and dissipation processes that are difficult to capture using monthly composites.&amp;nbsp; Weekly products provide a balance between temporal resolution and observational completeness, preserving short-term bloom variability while supporting consistent interannual comparisons. &amp;nbsp;Compared with weekly products, monthly composites underestimated seasonal peak biomass by 24&amp;ndash;50% for &lt;em&gt;S. horneri&lt;/em&gt; and 12&amp;ndash;52% for &lt;em&gt;U. prolifera&lt;/em&gt; during 2018&amp;ndash;2025.&amp;nbsp; In contrast, daily products were more sensitive to short-term biomass fluctuations, which could alter the identification of the year with the highest boom intensity, highlighting the importance of temporal aggregation for robust interannual comparisons. &amp;nbsp;Comparisons with previous studies and reported bloom events demonstrate that the dataset reliably reproduces observed spatial distributions and seasonal characteristics.&amp;nbsp; By providing a high-resolution, weekly, and species-resolved dataset of floating macroalgae, this study offers a consistent observational foundation for investigating species-specific bloom dynamics, assessing their responses to environmental variability, and enabling data-driven management and early warning of macroalgal blooms in China&amp;rsquo;s marginal seas.</p>
</abstract>
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<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>National Natural Science Foundation of China</funding-source>
<award-id>42471084</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs2">
<funding-source>Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities</funding-source>
<award-id>2042024kf0037</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
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