Harmful algal blooms in Monterey Bay found by multi-institutional experiment
Friday, October 15, 2010 - 09:20
in Earth & Climate
A small fleet of ships and robotic submersibles are performing a kind of water ballet in northern Monterey Bay this month, observing and following the evolution and consequences of algal blooms as part of MBARIs CANON (Controlled, Agile, and Novel Observing Network) project and the multi-institutional BloomEx field trials. The timing was fortuitous! A significant bloom of the toxic algae Pseudo-nitzschia australis with its associated toxin, domoic acid, was detected and tracked by the array of instruments deployed for the experiment. This finding has been accompanied by reports from the California Department of Fish and Game of sick and dying marine mammals.