April 7, 2015

A new $3.6 million effort supports a partnership between NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to develop an early warning indicator for freshwater algal blooms. Freshwater algal blooms cost $64 million annually and pose risks to both human and animal health.

The project will use color satellite data from NASA’s Aqua, the USGS/NASA collaborative satellite Landsat, and the European Space Agency’s Sentinel 2 and 3 to develop an indicator for toxic and nuisance freshwater algal blooms. Data from these satellites is currently available to scientists, but this project will process the data into a format easily distributed to aid public health advisories.

The project will improve understanding of the causes of harmful algal blooms and their health impacts. This deeper understanding will assist with algal bloom forecasting, as well as future mitigation and prevention efforts.

Source: NASA