On August 10, 2012, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative awarded researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina, a partner institute of NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science Hollings Marine Laboratory, one of 19 grants that support studies determining environmental effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010. The university researchers [...]
When tiny aquatic organisms reproduce in large amounts, algal blooms occur that take over portions of open water up to hundreds of miles in area. And when these oceanic plankton happen to be the toxic kind, they can be deadly to other living things crossing their path. One of the most poisonous and abundant of [...]
The National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science provided funds so that the state of Washington’s Department of Health, the NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center HAB Program, and the SoundToxins partnership can analyze diarretic shellfish poisoning (DSP) toxins in shellfish and monitor for Dinophysis, the dinoflagellate that produces the toxins. In 2011 three people became ill with DSP [...]
Though no longer an uncommon occurrence each summer, a streak of red tide hit local waters as early as last week, a premature showing from the algal bloom that officials say is likely responsible for a fish kill in an Aquebogue creek. A spokesman with the Department of Environmental Conservation stated on Thursday that on [...]
University and NOAA investigators have found seed-like cysts of the toxic alga Alexandrium at all depths in a sediment core taken from Sequim Bay in Puget Sound. The depths in which they found the seeds indicate Alexandrium dates back to the late 1800’s. Correlations between cyst abundance, sea surface temperature, air temperature, and, for a shorter [...]
This year’s spring drought may have been bad for Ohio’s crops, but it should mean a healthier Lake Erie this summer. Scientists are predicting that the August-September bloom of harmful algae in the western basin of Lake Erie will be less than 10 percent of what it was last year, said Jeff Reutter, director of [...]
Weekly forecasts of harmful algal bloom conditions in Lake Erie have started for the 2012 season. Two forecasts have already been issued, and they will be disseminated throughout the bloom season–which lasts from June to October. Earlier, NOAA issued its first seasonal forecast for the lake’s notorious algae, advising water utilities, recreational anglers, and others who [...]
Harmful algae blooms in Lake Erie’s Western Basin are expected to be mild this summer for the first time since 2007, scientists said Thursday. Scientists expect to see one-tenth of the amount of algae that grew on the lake last year, which was one of the worst on record, said Rick Stumpf, oceanographer for the [...]