A NCCOS-funded harmful algal bloom forecasting project is providing key information that one day will help scientists overcome the challenges of HAB forecasting and predict when and where blooms may occur. The prestigious Monterey Bay Research Institute (MBARI), a partner in the research, recently advertised the NCCOS harmful algal bloom forecasting project in a press [...]
An NCCOS-funded research team led by Dr. Donald Anderson, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), has deployed an autonomous ocean sensor, called the Environmental Sample Processor (ESP) in the Atlantic Ocean off Portsmouth, New Hampshire for monitoring and prediction of New England Red Tides. A key project goal this year is to maintain ESP coverage in [...]
NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science and partners will conduct the first field test of an underwater robot using an NCCOS-developed toxin sensor that will enable remote, automated measurements of paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) produced by the dinoflagellate Alexandrium that causes toxic red tides in the Gulf of Maine (GOM). The robot, called the [...]
Two autonomous robotic Environmental Sample Processors capable of detecting the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia and its potent neurotoxin domoic acid were deployed off Huntington Beach, California in March as part of a novel ocean observing network. These underwater laboratories transmit data to shore from a toxin sensor designed by a researcher from NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal [...]
Science recently declared that new technologies are making remote sensing of the ocean a “new wave” of oceanography. This growing array of lower-cost, high-tech instruments–satellites, robotic gliders, moored sensors, underwater observatories–is transforming the discipline of oceanography, possibly reducing the need for expensive research vessels. A new class of automated biological sensors are nearing readiness and [...]
As part of a formal agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency, researchers from the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science are providing guidance for developing strategies and recommendations for future technology transfer activities on harmful algal blooms at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Marine Environmental Laboratory in Monaco from 4-7 February 2013. By helping to build [...]
A recently published research paper describes the minimum requirements for an effective harmful algal bloom (HAB) observing system for the U.S. west coast to mitigate HAB impacts. HAB observing systems provide early warning and forecasting of HAB events to guide decisions to close shellfish harvesting to protect human health, avoid mortality of protected species, and encourage aquaculture [...]
Researchers finally identified the main toxic compounds produced by Prymnesium parvum, also known as “golden tide.” A fish-killing algae, this organism had historically affected aquaculture and marine systems worldwide, but now also frequently plagues popular fishing spots in the western United States, such as in Arizona last month. Identifying these toxins as well as their primary mode of [...]