The world’s waters are being polluted, not only by heavy metals, plastics, fertilizers and pesticides, but also by prolific algae that are thriving in the oceans, lakes, and waterways around the world. One in particular, called cyanobacteria, which is also known as "blue-green" algae, releases toxins that affect our health. Cyanobacteria feed on phosphorus that occurs naturally but is also a major run-off from land fertilizer use. Untreated sewage also puts phosphorus into the ocean, unless stage 3 treatment processes are used to remove it.
Blue Water Satellite claims to be able to detect this cyanobacteria (and the phosphorus that is feeding it) using satellite imagery. They have backed up their space-based observations with actual water quality measurements which you can check out at their website. Other satellite organization have used space based observation to detect ocean algae blooms, such as the European Space Agency (ESA) Envisat satellite which uses its Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument to identify phytoplankton (“grass of the sea”) concentrations.
Ocean fish stocks, fish dependent communities, the fishing industry and fish farms are all vulnerable to algae blooms. Understanding algae blooms is therefore important to understand how humans are affecting rivers, lakes and oceans. Some phytoplankton blooms in the Gulf of Mexico (and in other places) have been so large and dense that they actually end up killing other marine species as the phytoplankton consumes all the oxygen in the water as they bloom and die away.
Detecting cyanobacteria and phytoplankton blooms, and identifying their cause – such as from land based fertilizer use or raw sewage outlets, is also an important first step in helping clean up the human impact on the world’s waters. Left unchecked, such algae blooms may well speed up the collapse of major food systems in the world’s waters, the consequences of which will be global food shortages as well as the extinction of many ocean animal species.
Visit: Blue Water Satellite & ESA
Trevor Williams is a University of Victoria Mechanical Engineering PhD candidate specializing in renewable energy, power grid modeling and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. He has a bachelors in Aeronautical Engineering, a Masters in Management Science and over 23 years international experience in the space industry, having worked on Earth observation and telecommunications satellites. He is the author of the Eco-Geek blog.
written by Jeddigar , January 01, 2011
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Phytoplankton give oxygen when they are alive and the bacteria that decomposes the dead phytoplankton consume oxygen. This is the cause of dead zones and fish kills.
Diatoms are less visible since they are good food for Zooplankton and Fish, so they are consumed and very few die and decompose.
written by Bhaskar , December 27, 2010