Patterns, Risk, and Drivers of Cyanobacterial Algal Blooms Across the U.S.

Presentation on ongoing analyses about cyanobacteria harmful algal blooms patterns and drivers across the US to colleagues at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

Impact/Purpose

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CHABs) can produce toxins which impair freshwater ecosystems used for drinking water, recreation, and habitat for aquatic biota. With CHABs increasing in extent and intensity globally, water managers need information about how to prioritize lake monitoring. The purpose of this talk is to update colleagues at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality about our research efforts on the patterns, risks, and drivers of CHABs across the U.S. We present two ongoing analyses. The first is characterizing the patterns of CHABS across the US using the Cyanobacteria Assessment Network (CyAN) satellite data. This involves characterizing the density, spatial pattern, and timing of the blooms. The second analysis combines CyAN and the National Lakes Assessments (NLA) 2012 and 2007 field surveys. We are finding that there is a spatial relationship between the CyAN summer bloom magnitude and the likelihood of detecting the cyanotoxin microcystin in the NLA field data. We present this update for feedback from our colleagues at the OR DEQ in order to generate analyses that are ultimately useful to water resource managers.

Citation

Handler, A., J. Compton, Ryan A Hill, AND S. Leibowitz. Patterns, Risk, and Drivers of Cyanobacterial Algal Blooms Across the U.S. Research Update to Oregon DEQ, virtual, OR, September 02, 2020.