Song, M.-S.; Yun, H.-S.; Kim, T.-W., and Cho, J.-M., 2017. Algae inflow monitoring using satellite images for the process control of the Gijang desalination plant in Busan, South Korea. In: Lee, J.L.; Griffiths, T.; Lotan, A.; Suh, K.-S., and Lee, J. (eds.), The 2nd International Water Safety Symposium. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 79, pp. 159–163. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.

Climate change has recently been taking place due to the sudden rise of water temperature resulting from global warming and the red tides adversely affected the seawater desalination plant directly or indirectly every year. Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) occur if the perishable organic pollutants, minerals, and growth stimulating substances are abundantly dissolved in the water and if solar radiation, water temperature, salinity, and other environmental conditions are met. Once the algae are agglomerated by the wind and tide, high-density red tide occurs. This may also cause damages to the desalination plants. RO membrane in the main process cannot be cleaned by the chlorination for membrane cleaning because the material of RO membrane is polyamide. Therefore, the algae and microorganisms contained in seawater have a negative impact on membrane fouling. Accordingly, pre-treatment method for blocking the inflow of algae by monitoring the occurrence of HABs is more effective than post-processing method that is used for cleaning after the membrane is already contaminated. In this study, algae inflow monitoring was carried out through satellite image analysis looking for an appropriate analysis algorithm of chlorophyll-a concentration by using the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) Data Processing System (GDPS) for the process control of Gijang desalination plant. Accordingly, the chlorophyll-a concentration analyzed by OC2 algorithm for algae inflow monitoring is the most suitable algorithm.