Tag Archives: algae bloom

Two Planes; One Algae Bloom? SLR/IRL

Ed, my husband, and Todd my brother, algae hunters! The Cub.

The Baron, Todd and Ed. All of Todd’s photos are linked at the bottom of this post.

On Saturday, my husband, Ed, took my brother, Todd, up in both the Cub and the Baron to look for a the large algae bloom Ed and I had seen last Wednesday in Lake Okeechobee. I went along for the Baron ride, but the Cub only holds two.

Maybe you, like me, after listening to the news the past few days, realized there were other blooms reported, even a “small one” in Pahokee on May 20th by famed biologist Barry Rosen, of USGA. I wondered if Todd and Ed would see more blooms, other blooms…

Saturday, July 22, 2017, was much more overcast than the previous Wednesday, so the lake photos Todd took are not as bright in color, but the “southwest of Port Mayaca” bloom is definitely still there. Todd did not report any others during the trip and the GPS track shows that he and Ed went quite far north and west. (Channel 12 reported on two blooms on Lake O’s western shore…)

Before the flight, Todd also shared the most recent Landsat 8 satellite image that shows where the large “southwest of Port Mayaca” bloom is located although here too, there are a lot of clouds blocking the image…

Approaching Lake O with widespread cloud cover.

After Wednesday’ s post, many were asking me if there were visible blooms in the St Lucie River or C-44 Canal.

The answer: “No.” From 1000 feet up, there are none visible. But there are the “bubble like nutrient swirls” that seem to proceed the blooms in some areas. (You’ll notice these in Todd’s photos and all 350+ photos are linked at end of post.)

I did notice that on Facebook a small bloom was reported at Rivers’ Landing in Palm City, and another one on rocks in the North Fork. The Caloosahatchee has indeed reported a pretty significant bloom…blooms are in the estuaries but the motherload is Lake O.

Have you seen any blooms? If so, here is the link to report algae blooms to the Department of Environmental Protection, “DEP.”

It is important to report what you see!

http://www.dep.state.fl.us/central/Home/Watershed/ReportProblem.htm

I happened to notice when I visited the DEP website that DEP states: “Blooms are naturally occurring.”

…Yes this is true; so is cancer.

However, nutrient pollution that feeds these algae blooms and is killing our estuaries, and possibly us, is entirely man-made. We know what causes it.

We must be more diligent and creative in stopping the nutrient run of from agriculture and development. “Taking measures”as noted in the DEP quote as the game plan just isn’t enough. After all, this is a war to save our Florida.

Florida’s five water managements districts map DEP.

__________________________________________________________

QUOTE on DEP web page regarding algae blooms: http://www.dep.state.fl.us/water/bgalgae/

“There are no short term solutions to rectifying the situation; this is a naturally occurring phenomenon that the State monitors closely. However, the state is taking measures that in the long-term will reduce nutrient loading and improve water quality.” DEP, 2017 website

LINKS:

Weather Channel story with photo of small bloom found in Lake O at Pahokee and reported on May 20, 2017 by USGA biologist, Barry Rosen: https://weather.com/science/environment/news/florida-algae-bloom-lake-okeechobee

USGA: Tracking the Bad Guys 2017: https://www.usgs.gov/center-news/tracking-bad-guys-toxic-algal-blooms

A great book on the subject of nutrient pollution: Clean Coastal Waters, Understanding and Reducing the Effects of Nutrient Pollution: https://www.nap.edu/catalog/9812/clean-coastal-waters-understanding-and-reducing-the-effects-of-nutrient

LANDSAT 8

Photos by Todd Thurlow SLR, C-44, Lake O

South Fork that connects to C-44 and then Lake O at Port Mayaca, near Palm City; following photos just going west towards Lake Okeechobee. Notice the bubble trails.

American Yachts and 195 overpass is near where C-44 connects to South Fork of St Lucie River

S-80 where area basin water is allowed into South Fork of St Lucie as well as water from Lake O if S-308 is open at Port Mayaca

Part of C-44 Reservoir project, the biggest in the state, to hold area basin water, clean and return to C-44.

Water and sediment leaving ag canals entering C-44 canal

FPL cooling pond. This area was once a cypress tree forest

C-44 is “running backwards” into Lake O right now, dark color is visible

Algae is present south west of Port Mayaca but not as bright on this cloudy day…

S-308 with C-44 area basin waters going into lake. Usually these waters flow into C-44 and the SLR

Photo in 2nd plane, the Baron. I went along for this one as you can get a more overall view…

Again algae present in Lake O southwest waters but not as intense as seen in blog photos I published four days prior as this day was cloudy and there was little sunlight.

My brother noted the algae around the Okeechobee Waterway canal cut into the lake. Interesting!

The water flowing backwards from C-44 area basin is certainly one of the things fouling Lake Okeechobee.

2. This 1995-2005 map shows phosphorus loads to lake and SRL for that time. (SFWMD)

See all of Todd’s photos here: http://www.thethurlows.com/LakeO_07-22-2017/

Satellite Images Reveal Another Significant Algae Bloom in Lake O, SLR/IRL

Because the Army Corp of Engineers has been discharging into the St Lucie River for the past months and the nightmare of June’s algae situation, my brother has been monitoring satellite images of Lake Okeechobee. Unfortunately, another large bloom has been documented. For awhile the large bloom that reached a size of over 200 square miles seemed to subside and was not not very visible via satellite …

Since August 19th, 2016 a visible bloom is back.

Considering what happened in June and July of this year, we as a community should be prepared for another possible river algae outbreak if this bloom significantly grows or other conditions are right–presently, Todd measured the bloom at just over 40 square miles. (See below)

Many reports and Facebook posts have already surfaced about algae blooms building up again in marinas and along shorelines. Hopefully if there is an outbreak, it won’t be as extreme as earlier this year when the Governor declared a state of emergency.

Thank you Todd for the information and the images.

We will keep reporting.

JTL
———————–

On Aug 20, 2016, at 4:12 PM, Todd Thurlow <todd@thurlowpa.com> wrote:

Jacqui:

I sent this to Mark Perry. They just posted yesterday’s Landsat 8 pass. Algae is clearly visible. The outline around the bloom is 41.4 square miles:

(http://www.thurlowpa.com/LakeOImagery/Measurments/index.html#LakeOAlgaeBloom-2016-08-19_wide.jpg)
Full Res:
(http://www.thurlowpa.com/LakeOImagery/Measurments/LakeOAlgaeBloom-2016-08-19_wide.jpg)

Close-up:
(http://www.thurlowpa.com/LakeOImagery/Measurments/index.html#LakeOAlgaeBloom-2016-08-19_close.jpg)
Full Res:
(http://www.thurlowpa.com/LakeOImagery/Measurments/LakeOAlgaeBloom-2016-08-19_close.jpg)

Todd

(Todd Thurlow)
http://www.thurlowpa.com

Sucking-in the Algae Bloom, Lake Okeechobee’s S-308, SLR/IRL

Lake Okeechobee's S-308 at Port Mayaca, Ed Lippisch, May 13, 2016. — Lake Okeechobee’s S-308 at Port Mayaca, Ed Lippisch, May 13, 2016.

The first time I ever laid eyes on Lake Okeechobee, I was eleven years old. I remember thinking that I must be looking at the ocean because I could not see across to the other side. Just enormous!

In spite of its magnificent size, over the past century, Lake Okeechobee has been made smaller–around thirty percent smaller– as its shallow waters have been modified for human use–pushed back, tilled, planted, diked, and controlled. Today, it is managed by the South Florida Water Management District and the Army Corp of Engineers. Sprawling sugar fields, the Everglades Agricultural Area, (EAA), canals, highways, telephone poles, train tracks, processing facilities, a FPL power plant, and small cites surround it.

S-308, (the “S” standing for “structure), opens easterly into the St Lucie Canal, also known as C-44, (Canal 44). About twenty miles east is another structure, S-80, at the St Lucie Locks and Dam. It is S-80 that is usually photographed with its “seven gates of hell,” the waters roaring towards the St Lucie River/Indian River Lagoon, and the City of Stuart, but it is actually S-308 that allows the waters of Lake Okeechobee “in” from the lake in the first place.

Such a fragile looking structure to be the welcome matt of so much destruction…a sliver unto an ocean. So strange…

Today I will share some aerial photos that my husband took on Friday, May 13th, 2016 at about 700 feet above the lake. I asked Ed if from that height he could see the algae bloom so much in the news last week even though over time blooms migrate, “bloom” and then sink into the water column, becoming less visible but still lurking.

“Yes.” He replied.

” It’s harder to see from that altitude, and it depends on the light, but it’s still visible. It’s green in the brown water. The lighting shows were it is. You can see a difference in texture about 100 yards west of S-308. It is not right up against the structure, but further out. Boats are driving through it leaving a trail. It’s appears that is slowly being sucked in to the opening of the S-308 structure , like when you pull the drain out of the sink….”

Dike around Lake Okeechobee near S-308 — Dike and rim canal around Lake Okeechobee near S-308. Ed Lippisch, 5-13-16

…Looking towards S-308 from Lake O, boat going through bloom. Ed Lippisch, 5-13-15

Remnants of bloom seen bunched in waves. Ed Lippisch 5-13-16.

C-44 or St Lucie Canal that is connected by S-308 to Lake Okeechobee.EL

Algae bloom in C-44 near Indiantown just east of Port Maraca and S-308. — Closer view of algae bloom in C-44 near Indiantown “downstream” of Port Maraca and S-308 headed to Stuart. (JTL 5-10-16)

This aerial was taken last week by Will Glover and shows a larger bloom not far from Pahokee in Lake Okeechobee. Pahokee is south of S-308 on the southern rim. — Algae Bloom in Lake Okeechobee: This aerial was taken last week by Will Glover as he was flying over Lake Okeechobee in a commercial airplane. It was shared on Facebook.

TC Palm’s Tyler Treadway reported on 5-13-16: “The lake bloom was spread over 33 square miles near Pahokee, the South Florida Water Management District said Thursday. The Florida Department of Health reported Friday the bloom contains the toxin microcystin, but at a level less than half what the World Health Organization says can cause “adverse health impacts” from recreational exposure.”

Pahokee is south and west of Port Maraca and S-308. (Florida Trails)