This page decribes algal blooms in Monterey Bay during 2008 as reported by researchers involved with the MB '08 project. An algal bloom appeared in Monterey Bay in mid-October, 2008. Intense blooms were detected by satellite and studied by researchers on the water. As seen in the satellite imagery provided (below), the bloom (red area) began in the southern bay and developed into a larger intense bloom in the northern bay a week later.
Image Courtesy of European Space Agency. Provided by NOAA CoastWatch
Maximum Chlorophyll Index (MCI) images of Monterey Bay from the Medium
Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) satellite instrument. "Extreme
bloom" (red tide) conditions developed during October in the northern
and southern bay. Researchers are studying the causes and consequences
of this event, and other types of blooms that are not visible from the
surface.
The extreme bloom patches evident in the images were sampled by researchers and found to be dominated by Akashiwo sanguinea. This species resulted in a harmful algal bloom in Monterey Bay in November 2007, but the extent of the bloom in Fall 2008 was smaller and no harmful effects have been reported.
Image courtesy of UCSC researcher
A photo taken from a ship on October 18th offshore of the Pajaro region (north-central Monterey Bay) showing potential signs of a red tide event.
The CalPReMPT Plankton Blog is a weekly report on sections of plankton collected by a surface net at the Santa Cruz Wharf and analyzed by researchers. The sections from that time period indicate the presence of some plankton species known to cause blooms (notably Akashiwo spp. which resulted in the November 2007 bloom), but not in large concentrations. This indicates a bloom was not occuring at that location.
During October 2008, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and other US, European, and Japanese partners institutions conducted oceanographic surveys as part of the Monterey Bay 2008 Experiment (MB08). An advanced observing and modeling system monitored Monterey Bay to better understand the factors that drive the development of red tide and harmful algal blooms. This project collected data and created maps of ocean currents, temperature, and salinity that will be compared with plankton sections and DNA monitoring results to study the ecology of red tide and harmful algal blooms (HABs). Instruments used included moorings, AUVs (autonomous underwater vehicles), and gliders, as well as satellite sensors turned specifically to Monterey Bay. View results and discussions from MB08 project here. This intensive experiment in Monterey Bay involved specialists from many collaborating institutions at: MBARI, UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, Cal Poly, Cal Tech, Scripps, Naval Postgraduate School, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Rutgers, NASA, & NOAA.
Sources of further information:
.
For more information contact Heather heather@mbari.org.