Variación espacio-temporal del coeficiente de atenuación de la luz en la bahía de Cienfuegos, Cuba.

In this work, 16 stations in Cienfuegos Bay were optically classified in the period from 2009 to 2014 and the spatio-temporal variation of the average attenuation coefficient of light was determined, as well as its relationship with chlorophyll a and suspended solids. The average attenuation coefficient was estimated from an empirical relationship with the Secchi depth and was compared with the corresponding ones determined by Jerlov (1976) to determine the optical type of water of each station. A predominance of C9 (more turbid) water was obtained, which was mainly reported in the mouths of the rivers, mainly in the northern lobe of the bay subjected to anthropization. The greatest variation of the attenuation was detected between the periods of drought and rain, showing the highest values in rain due to the increase of the nutrient concentration and the turbulence in the water column. The spatial variation indicated that stations 1 and 16 showed minimum and maximum attenuation values respectively due to their hydrodynamic characteristics. The relationship of the attenuation coefficient with suspended solids on the surface and in turn the attenuation coefficient with chlorophyll a showed a marked multifactorial relationship.