Due to the deleterious effects of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) throughout U.S. coasts and estuaries, it is necessary to provide management agencies with information regarding the location, extent and forecasted movement of HABs in order to target sampling and make decisions. In addition, forecasts of bloom impacts are crucial for providing local businesses and the public information regarding the likelihood that bloom effects will be observed at their beaches.
Currently, a HAB forecast system has been developed for both the eastern and western areas of the Gulf of Mexico to provide information regarding blooms of Karenia brevis. Although the detection methods used are effective >80% of the time, false positives are common as a result of blooms of non-harmful phytoplankton and resuspension of benthic chlorophyll. Optical techniques have been investigated for improving upon these false positives. Results have been published and are currently being added into the operational forecast system, in conjunction with NOAA’s Center for Opeartional Products and Services (CO-OPS).
COAST has also done work in the detection and monitoring of Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms (CyanoHABs). This work has resulted in the creation of a new algorithm to detect CyanoHABs in various freshwater environments, primarily in the Laurentian Great Lakes. In the summer of 2008 COAST issued the first indication of a bloom of the potentially toxic cyanobacterium, Microcystis aeroginosa to a subset of the research and management communities. Eight period bulletins were issued as part of a experimental validation step for the COAST CyanoHAB algorithm.
The HAB research project will work directly with federal, state and local scientists to develop products for the use in regional HAB forecast system throughout the coastal U.S. Various algorithms will be applied to satellite image products, in order to accurately detect and monitor for HABs. This will require strong collaboration with research scientists in each region, since the nature of these blooms are unique and require an understanding of the overall ecology of the phytoplankton community and the physical environment in which they occur. Potential products will be compared with field measurements of bloom location, phytoplankton and toxin concentration in a hindcast mode, to determine their usefulness in a forecast system.
Ongoing.
Project Manager: Michelle.Tomlinson@noaa.gov
1305 East West Highway
SSMC-IV, N/SCI-1
Silver Spring, MD 20910
301-713-3028 x225
