Seeing the photos from the record-breaking algal bloom on Lake Erie in 2011 was like déjà vu for me. I grew up in the Great Lakes region in the 1960s and 1970s and remember the days when Lake Erie was declared “dead.” I later learned that the green scum that plagued the lake during summer [...]
‘Red tide’ and a loss of sea grass account for some manatee deaths, but researchers believe undiscovered factors are also at play. A record number of endangered manatees are dying in Florida’s waterways. So far this year, 582 manatees have died, more than any year on record, according to preliminary numbers from the Florida Fish [...]
On May 2, 2013, NOAA’s North Atlantic Regional Collaboration Team convened a workshop at the Cooperative Institute for the North Atlantic Region in Woods Hole, MA to explore regional capabilities and needs for ecological forecasting. Long-term science support from NOS’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science has led to a Harmful Algal Bloom forecast currently [...]
On April 28-30, 2013, Dr. Robert Magnien of NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) chaired the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission’s Intergovernmental Panel on Harmful Algal Blooms (IPHAB). This year, IPHAB reviewed progress on harmful algae priorities and initiatives in partnership with other international organizations such as International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and the [...]
On May 3, Drs. Rodney Cluck and Brad Blythe of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s Environmental Studies Program (BOEM ESP) presented examples of collaborations with NOAA and other federal agencies during the NOS Seminar Series. One of the most highest-attended seminars, it highlighted two recent projects with the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science [...]
On May 1, NCCOS scientists shared NOAA methods for estimating HAB annual variability in Lake Erie with the Ohio Lake Erie Phosphorus Task Force. In addition to the methods, NCCOS also discussed and the role of spring nutrient loading from the Maumee River in driving HAB blooms of cyanobacteria. The task force was stood up [...]
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 [...]
For decades, those leading efforts to keep southeast Louisiana from being swallowed by the Gulf of Mexico have supported “Putting the river back into the marsh.” The thinking is that the river should be allowed to build new land, just as it had done for millennia before flooding was controlled. But what if pollutants in the [...]