HEALTH

Lake Okeechobee algae blooms may be detected sooner, understood better by NASA's SeaPRISM

Tyler Treadway
Treasure Coast Newspapers
Discharges from Lake Okeechobee in 2017 created a plume of brown water throughout the St. Lucie River estuary, out the St. Lucie Inlet and into the Atlantic Ocean; but they didn't bring the toxic blue-green algae blooms experienced in 2016.

We know a massive algae bloom in Lake Okeechobee during the 2016 discharges caused a widespread toxic algae bloom in the St. Lucie River that spread to the Indian River Lagoon and — for the first time ever — the Atlantic beaches.

More: Lake Okeechobee discharges, not septic systems, caused bloom

We also know there was no algae bloom in the river during the 2017 discharges because the bloom in the lake had dissipated by the time the discharges started.

More: Lake Okeechobee algae bloom not heading to St. Lucie River

We don't know what causes the algae blooms in Lake O to fluctuate so much from year to year, but we may soon find out.

NASA has developed a sensor called "SeaPRISM" that can look into the lake every hour and, by the color of the water, determine how much blue-green algae it contains.

"To be clear, there's microcystis (aka blue-green algae) in the lake all the time," said James M. Sullivan, a research professor at Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce. "We know its growth depends on factors like nutrients and temperature. But we don't fully understand the dynamics of blooms in the lake."

Even if you can't see that green algae scum on the surface, Sullivan said, "the SeaPRISM will be able to see how much algae is down in the water. With that information, we should be able to determine what drives a bloom, what makes it big one year and small another."

SeaPRISM

The SeaPRISM (Photometer Revision for Incident Surface Measurements) will be mounted on a pole from 15 to 20 feet above the middle of the lake so it can monitor a large swath of water.

Logistics still have to be worked out, Sullivan said, but NASA and Harbor Branch staff could install the SeaPRISM as soon as March or April, before algae blooms start appearing in the summer.

Real-time data from the SeaPRISM will be relayed to NASA and be available to the public on the agency's Aeronet website in "a couple of hours," Sullivan said.

NASA Earth Observatory images of algae bloom on Lake Okeechobee on July 2, 2016. Landsat data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

Currently, the only way to keep tabs on algae growth in the lake is using satellite images followed up with on-site testing.

More: Satellite images show extent of algae bloom on Lake Okeechobee

Satellites take aerial images of Lake O about every three to eight days; and if it's cloudy when the satellite flies over: nothing.

"Hopefully, with the SeaPRISM, we'll get a better idea of how blooms change from day to day, from hour to hour," Sullivan said.

NASA is paying for the project because its scientists will use data from the SeaPRISM for "ground truthing," or double-checking, the information obtained by the satellites.

Lagoon symposium

Sullivan and some of his cohorts will talk about the differences between the 2016 and 2017 Lake O discharges Thursday during the two-day Indian River Lagoon Symposium at Harbor Branch.

With presentations on lagoon-related research, Thursday is geared toward scientists, not the public.

The public is invited Friday to learn how organizations work to preserve the lagoon and how they need help.

If you go

  • What: Indian River Lagoon Symposium
  • When: 8:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday
  • Where: Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, 5600 N. U.S. 1, Fort Pierce 
  • Registration: Online 
  • Information: Jill Sunderland at 772-242-2506