Dangers of Blooms

Phytoplankton are microscopic organisations that live in both fresh and seawater and form one of the lowest levels of the aquatic food chain, with many marine creatures eating them. Phytoplankton contain chlorophyll, like plants, and therefore require sunlight to survive … Continue reading →

Algae Starting To Bloom

Algae have been making the headlines in the last few weeks, which is definitely a rarely used phrase! Firstly, the Lake Erie freshwater algal bloom has begun in the western end of the lake near Toledo. This is something that … Continue reading →

Is This The Worst Global Coral Bleaching Event Ever?

It was announced last week that 93% of the Great Barrier Reef has been hit by coral bleaching due to rising sea temperatures from El Niño and climate change. We first wrote about the third worldwide coral bleaching in October … Continue reading →

El Niño causing Coral Bleaching

Coral reefs are currently undergoing their third worldwide bleaching event linked to the El Niño effect in the last 20 years, and scientists fear this one could be the worst. El Niño is the warm phase of the El Niño … Continue reading →

Ocean Colour Partnership Blooms

Last week NASA, NOAA, USGS and the US Environmental Protection Agency announced a $3.6 million partnership to use satellite data as an early warning system for harmful freshwater algae blooms. An algae bloom refers to a high concentration of micro … Continue reading →