As I write this note, Northwest and Southwest Florida are experiencing red tide blooms caused by the microscopic marine algae Karenia brevis. St. Petersburg and Tampa Bay are bearing the brunt of the impacts as hundreds of tons of dead fish wash onto beaches. We know from past experience that such blooms can devastate local economies and, more importantly, make people sick.

During red tides, most people experience minor respiratory irritation — coughing, sneezing, teary eyes and an itchy throat — when red tide is present and winds are blowing onshore. Typically, these symptoms go away when they leave the beach. But people with chronic lung problems like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can have more severe reactions when they breathe in airborne red tide toxins — even ending up in the emergency room.

It’s been my passion for more than two decades to help keep people safe during red tide blooms in the Gulf. Initially, that meant conducting the earliest studies to determine how K. brevis toxins affected human health. More recently, it means working to develop new tools that can help us get information about bloom movements to the people who live, work and play along our coasts as quickly as possible.

One of the newest red tide tools is HABscope, a low-cost, portable microscope system that utilizes artificial intelligence and deep learning to determine whether red tide is present in water samples. The information is used to help forecasters create the Red Tide Respiratory Forecast, which lets people know whether the beach they’re planning to visit will be affected by red tide and at what time of the day.

All of this takes a team effort — NOAA, GCOOS, Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and other organizations. The team also includes volunteers who are trained and actively processing and uploading water samples from beaches, gathering the data we need to build the Forecast.

These volunteers, coordinated by GCOOS’s Grant Craig, have been providing on-the-ground observations for more than seven months. With the intensity and spread of the current bloom, all volunteers in areas with bloom conditions have stepped up sampling frequency, doubling and perhaps tripling their sampling efforts.

In the meantime, GCOOS Developer Bob Currier is building the next generation HABscope, which will be faster and even easier to use.

If the bloom moves to Texas or a new one develops there, we have a team ready and waiting for that, too.

Sadly, the occurrence of toxic algae blooms are increasing in frequency, size and duration — not just in the Gulf but in communities nationwide, highlighting the need for a national, sustainably funded, integrated observing network dedicated to monitoring so we can help communities mitigate the impacts of HAB events.

If you haven’t seen the recent “Framework for the National Harmful Algal Bloom Observing Network: A Workshop Report,” I’d encourage you to take a look and share it with your resource managers and lawmakers.

Dr. Barbara Kirkpatrick

Executive Director

Did you know that the Gulf of Mexico Ocean and Coastal Acidification Network (GCAN) works directly with scientists, resource managers, stakeholders, and educators to facilitate, synthesize and communicate the state of coastal and ocean acidification science in the region? We regularly sponsor webinars covering everything from the state-of-the science, to understanding acidification impacts on local communities.

The Red Tide Respiratory Forecast is currently active at 30 Florida sites. For the latest respiratory beach conditions, visit habforecast.gcoos.org.

HABscopes have been used to process 13,150 water samples. The results are near-instantaneous thanks to the scope’s portability and ease of use. Using traditional microscopy, it would take at least 15 minutes for a highly trained microscopist to analyze each of those samples — some 3,287 hours, not including sample collection and travel time to get each sample to the lab. That’s more than one full-time staff equivalent and does not account for the increased spatial and temporal coverage that HABscope makes possible.

Funding: NASA Health and Air Quality Program, NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) through the multi-year “Monitoring and Event Response for Harmful Algal Bloom (MERHAB)” program and the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS).

HABscope Goes Global: HABscope is currently being tested by scientists from the Marine Institute and the National University of Ireland, Galway, to detect HABs in Irish waters. Read more.

Louisiana Sea Grant has appointed Julie Anderson Lively as the new executive director. Lively, an associate professor in LSU’s School of Renewable Natural Resources and LSG’s fisheries specialist, began her career at LSU in 2010. She earned her Ph.D. in marine biology from the University of Delaware.

Human Health and SafetyHeHEALTH

Gliders deployed as part of the hurricane picket line in the Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Gulf Stream are contributing temperature and salinity profiles to the NOAA Real-time Ocean Forecast System (RTOFS) for data assimilation.

The new data assimilative RTOFS is providing the initial conditions for the 2021 coupled regional hurricane forecast models, and is representing many of the essential ocean features important for hurricane forecasts.

Data impact analyses are ongoing, however early analyses conducted by Rutgers in coordination with NWS partners indicate the glider data are having a significant positive impact on RTOFS by improving the vertical structure of the essential ocean features beyond what is available through satellite data alone. Deployments are made possible by funding from OMAO, OAR/GOMO, AOML, and IOOS. (Don't forget: You can track gliders on GANDALF.)

The National Weather Service is seeking public input on a change the agency is planning for its hazard messaging headlines in 2024.

The NWS is planning to remove all "Advisory" headlines from the Watch, Warning, and Advisory system in favor of clear, plain language headlines focused on impact. The plain language headlines will also replace current "Special Weather Statements" and will be equipped with Valid Time Event Code (VTEC).

Have you or your colleagues been involved in helping communities impacted by a crisis? In Times of Crisis: Stories from the Gulf of Mexico is looking for stories about ways that research faculty and university staff have partnered with community leaders and organizations in the Gulf of Mexico to provide scientific information and resources to community members before, during, or after a crisis. Stories must be submitted by Sept. 13, 2021. Three finalists will receive $2,000 to $20,000 to turn their story into a video.

Workshops: Plankton & the Ecosystem

MBON will host three online workshops titled: "Plankton ecosystem functions, biodiversity, and forecasting — research requirements and applications" Oct. 13-14.

The series will cover the state-of-the-art of field, lab and modeling approaches used to study plankton biodiversity and discuss data needs for improving understanding of the value of plankton, its functions and ecosystem services.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council and NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program would like your input on the condition of Coral Reefs in the Gulf of Mexico. Coral communities and habitats are an incredibly important part of the ocean ecosystem that we rely upon for sustainable fisheries. Research shows that the habitats and conditions of coral reefs in the Gulf of Mexico are changing.

A fleet of 20-25 autonomous profilers deployed in the Loop Current System (LCS) provide publicly-available near-real-time data to weather forecast models to aid in hurricane prediction. These data are also being used in conjunction with c-PIES data to explore the physical mechanism of Loop Current expansion into the Gulf and subsequent Loop Current Ring formation.

The Bower Lab at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has collected two years of temperature, salinity, and pressure profile data from the sea surface to 2,000 m across the eastern Gulf from these profiling floats, along with velocity estimates through displacements at 1,500 m depth. While the profile and position data are already publicly available through DACs, the Lab is ready to provide gridded data products and is seeking input from the community on what types of products would be useful.

The Gulf of Mexico Alliance has extended its call for applications for Season 2 of its popular “Tool Time with Dave” webinar series hosted by Regional Program Manager Dave Reed. The new deadline is the close of business on July 26.

GOMA is seeking submissions from partners interested in sharing information about their online or paper-based tools. Season 2 begins Aug. 10 and each webinar includes a Q&A with attendees.

The Underwater Glider User Group (UG2) is inviting members of the glider community to join the 2022 UG2 Workshop Planning committee. Volunteers will support programmatic and logistics planning.

The Center for Ocean Mapping and Innovative Technologies (COMIT) will be hosting its next webinar at noon, Wednesday, July 28. Colleen Peters, Saildrone’s Bathymetry Data Manager, will be presenting “Mapping the Unmapped — Remotely.”

The Gulf Research Program is convening a session on Ocean Dynamics of the Gulf of Mexico during the 2021 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting. It will focus on advances in understanding and forecasting open ocean dynamics in the Gulf. Abstract submissions for speakers are invited by Aug. 4, 2021.

GCOOS maintains a listing of funding opportunities. Have an opportunity you'd like to advertise? Email Laura Caldwell

13-17: The 3rd NOAA Workshop on Leveraging AI in Environmental Sciences — a hybrid event. “Transforming Weather, Climate Services, and Blue Economy with Artificial Intelligence.”

21-23: GOMA Team Mid-Year meetings, Biloxi. Hybrid virtual/in-person meeting. Details to come.

20-23: Global Oceans 2021

28 September - 1October: National Coastal Conference, New Orleans, Loisiana "GEAUX Resilient"

25-27: MTS 15th Buoy Workshop, Wilmington, North Carolina. "Moored Systems for the Future." Abstracts due Sept. 1.

26-28: GCOOS Fall Members Meeting. New Orleans, Louisiana.

1-4, 8-11: CERF Biennial Conference virtual conference

3-4: Esri Ocean, Weather, and Climate GIS Forum

13-17: AGU Fall Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana and Online Everywhere

23-27: American Meteorological Society, 102nd Annual Meeting, Houston, Texas

27 Febr - 4 March: ASLO/TOS Ocean Sciences Meeting , Honolulu, Hawaii

Dr. Barbara Kirkpatrick, Executive Director • Bill Lingsch, U.S. Glider User Group Coordinator • Dr. Chris Simoniello, Outreach & Education Coordinator • Dr. Kerri Whilden, Oceanographer • Felimon Gayanilo, Systems Architect, Co-Data Manager • Dr. Shinichi Kobara, Assistant Research Scientist, Product Developer •  Bob Currier, Research Specialist, Product Developer, Co-Data Manager • Marion Stoessel, Senior Research Associate • Jennifer Vreeland-Dawson, Research Associate • Grant Craig, Program Coordinator • Stephanie Watson, CETACEAN Coordinator • Nadine Slimak, Public Relations & Content Marketing, Vetted Communications, LLC • Dr. Chuan-Yuan Hsu, Post Doctoral Research Associate • Robbie Iles, Graduate Research Assistant • Laura Caldwell, Program Assistant

info@gcoos.org • 979.847.8879

In Memoriam: Matt Howard, 1952-2018