Abstract: In recent years, the frequent occurrences of red tide disasters in the East China Sea have caused great damage to the economic development and marine ecological environment of coastal areas. Based on the MODIS image data in the summer of 2016-2017, a semi-empirical multispectral identification algorithm was applied to derive the distribution of water bodies during the summer red tides in the East China Sea. Results show that during the period, the water bodies from the nearshore to the open sea in the East China Sea can be classified as turbid, red tide occupied, mixed and cleared. Among them, the diatom and dinoflagellate red tide water bodies have the characteristics of mutual success in spatial distribution. In addition, through principal component analysis of meteorological factors at three stations of Dachen station, Shipu station, and Shengsi station near the coast of Zhejiang Province, It is found that temperature, wind velocity, and cloud coverage played a positive role in promoting the generation and disappearance of red tides.