Algal blooms in freshwater lakes have gotten extra widespread worldwide

Lakes the world over have seen a rise in algal blooms that strangle freshwater ecosystems, in keeping with an evaluation of satellite tv for pc photographs from 1982 to 2019

On September 26, 2017, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite captured these natural-color images of a large phytoplankton bloom in western Lake Erie. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the bloom contains microcystis, a type of freshwater cyanobacteria. These phytoplankton produce toxins that can contaminate drinking water and pose a risk to human and animal health (skin irritant, respiratory distress) when there is direct contact. A few days earlier, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA?s Terra satellite captured a wider view of the lake. Blooms tend to thrive in Lake Erie during summer, sustained by warm water temperatures and nutrients from farm runoff. This year, the bloom has been ongoing since mid-July. NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Stevens, using Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Caption by Kathryn Hansen.

An algal bloom in Lake Erie photographed by a Landsat satellite tv for pc in September 2017

Joshua Stevens/NASA Earth Observatory utilizing Landsat 8 information from the U.S. Geological Survey

Blooms of algae that strangle freshwater ecosystems are occurring extra usually in lakes throughout many of the world, in keeping with the primary research to map their incidence globally.

An algal bloom is the speedy build-up of algae in a physique of water after extra vitamins, reminiscent of nitrogen or phosphorous, pollute the ecosystem – usually on account of fertiliser use on farms. The bloom can hurt different organisms, together with fish and bugs, by blocking out mild, …


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