The leading world venue for showcasing the latest research on oceans, coasts and lakes is the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) Aquatic Sciences Meeting. The research programs sponsored by the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) lead management solutions for harmful algae, hypoxia and regional ecosystem-scale research. At the [...]
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 [...]
An extensive Karenia brevis algae bloom off of the Florida coast prompted NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science to provide the state funding to pay for offshore monitoring of the bloom’s development, movement, and toxicity. This can help the state more accurately predict its magnitude and movement of the bloom as well as its impacts. The bloom started in [...]
The largest red tide bloom to affect Southwest Florida in years stretches nearly 100 miles from Lee County to Pinellas, with reports of fish kills and irritating red-tide air concentrated in Sarasota County. The widespread nature and intensity of the bloom, strongest off Charlotte Harbor, exceeds a smaller outbreak at this time last year and [...]
It’s been almost a year since 150 young harbor seals died unexpectedly and washed up beaches in New Hampshire, southern Maine and northern Massachusetts. The New England Aquarium has taken this sad anniversary as an opportunity to share information with Seacoast communities about the cause of the deaths, ongoing monitoring efforts and to notify towns [...]
An ongoing NCCOS Event Response-funded investigation by Dr. Christopher Gobler at Stony Brook University has genetically identified the algal species Aureoumbra lagunensis as the culprit causing a brown tide bloom in east central Florida coastal lagoons. This confirms a significant expansion of brown tide harmful algal bloom (HAB) events in the United States. Previous Aureoumbra blooms had [...]
The repair of a massive pipe that carries wastewater to the ocean is inspiring one of the most elaborate scientific investigations in years along the Orange County coast. Missile-shaped robotic gliders, sensors tethered offshore and boats crisscrossing the ocean with instruments in tow – all are part of an attempt to learn which life forms [...]
Scientists have preliminary confirmation that the algae clobbering vital sea grass and many kinds of popular fish in the Indian River Lagoon is a super-tiny plant with a big name that is otherwise known as “brown tide.” The algae, Aureoumbra lagunensis, is so minuscule that billions of them can grow in every quart of lagoon [...]