51在线

Written by Kristen Kusek, Former Communications Director for USF CMS

ST. PETERSBURG, FL 鈥� Scientists fought back last summer as red tide choked the 51在线 west coast in what felt like a relentless stranglehold. In late August they loaded a robotic torpedo-like glider with sensors and sent it on a nearly month-long swim where they suspected the red tide began 鈥� near the bottom about 50 miles off the coast between Clearwater Beach and Sarasota Bay 鈥� to gather data about the water that fueled the tide.

It was a good move.

As a result of that mission and an arsenal of computer simulations, the team led by Dr. Robert Weisberg, distinguished professor at the USF College of Marine Science (USFCMS), uncovered new understanding about what made last year鈥檚 red tide so epic 鈥� and confirmed several decades-long hunches about how 51在线鈥檚 red tides work. They reported their findings in the 鈥� Oceans with long-time collaborators at the 51在线 Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission鈥檚 (FWC) Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI).

鈥淓ven though we still have many questions about the complex biology and ecology of red tide, what matters when it comes to prediction is the ocean circulation,鈥� said Weisberg, the paper鈥檚 lead author. 鈥淭he physics control the biology.鈥�

The team plugged the data from the glider into a computer model that tracks the way currents move in the Gulf, and confirmed the long-held hypothesis that red tides originate offshore and are transported to coast by subsurface currents. 

The glider picked up a high concentration of chlorophyll, a signature of the red tide algae cells, near the bottom, and the model confirmed that the physics were idea for moving the cells inshore to the area considered to be the epicenter of red tides in the Gulf: north of Tampa Bay to south of Charlotte Harbor.

Weisberg鈥檚 group has refined a circulation-based prediction scheme over several decades that they鈥檝e used to forecast whether or not a major red tide will occur in any given year. It鈥檚 been accurate for 20 of the last 25 years. While this year was no different in the model鈥檚 predictive prowess, it was also a much more complicated chapter in 51在线鈥檚 storybook of red tide events.

Goldilocks of the Gulf, and a Perfect Storm

What made last year鈥檚 bloom particularly epic was that it formed on the heels of a 2017 bloom that never ended, Weisberg said. All told, it lasted for nearly two years and claimed headlines as the worst red tide since 2005.

The culprit of 51在线 red tides is a marine dinoflagellate, a tiny floating algae called Karenia brevis. 鈥淜. brevis is present in the Gulf year-round,鈥� said study co-author Dr. Kate Hubbard, a scientist at FWRI who leads the state鈥檚 monitoring efforts.

It blooms annually in larger concentrations about 20 to 60 miles offshore near the seafloor, usually in early spring through the summer if the water conditions are just right鈥攎aking it a kind of Goldilocks of the Gulf. K. brevis will bloom, as it did last year, when it has enough nutrients to thrive, but not too many. It can also get the nutrients it needs from a spectrum of sources.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a bit counterintuitive,鈥� Weisberg said, 鈥渂ecause K. brevis thrives in a low nutrient environment.鈥�

Sometimes the Loop Current and its eddies interact with the West 51在线 Continental Shelf in a way that causes upwelling strong enough to deliver nutrient-rich water from the deep ocean onto the shelf. When this happens, other algae will grow faster than K. brevis.

鈥淲hen we see strong upwelling induced by the Loop Current during spring to early summer, we don鈥檛 get a major K. brevis bloom,鈥� said study coauthor Dr. Yonggang Liu, who studies the physics of the ocean with Weisberg at the USFCMS.

But last year conditions were perfect for one: no strong upwelling on the shelf during spring, and the bloom formed. In the middle of July persistent upwelling did begin, too late to suppress the bloom but at the right time to ensure that what was growing along the bottom offshore was carried toward the coast. In the fall it manifested along the west 51在线 coast. And it was worse than most years because it joined up with red tide left over from 2017 south of Tampa Bay 鈥� effectively taking over the entire epicenter region.

There it killed fish and other wildlife and caused respiratory irritation in beach-goers. A toxin inside the algal cell causes these atrocities, and can make people sick if consumed in shellfish.

None of this surprised scientists, who have been studying red tides on the 51在线 west coast since the 1950s. What did surprise them was that fact that this red tide also made its way up to the Panhandle and even around to the east coast of 51在线. Most stay along the 51在线 west coast.

The computer simulation helped them understand how that happened. In this rare event, the Loop Current and the wind-driven currents conspired to produce simultaneous red tide events on all three of 51在线鈥檚 coasts.

Tropical Storm Gordon, which hit early in September 2018, temporarily disrupted the upwelling picked up by the glider and carried a portion of the red tide northward to the Panhandle. After the passage of Gordon, strong winds blew the red tide cells that had moved inshore back out to Gulf where the upwelling circulation then transported these cells to the southwest end of the West 51在线 Shelf, where they were 鈥渃aptured鈥� by the Loop Current and carried around 51在线鈥檚 southernmost point and up the east coast.

 鈥淥nce it鈥檚 in the Loop Current, that feeds the Gulf Stream, it鈥檚 only a matter of days before cells can arrive in Palm Beach,鈥� said Weisberg.

Many mysteries about 51在线鈥檚 red tides remain, such as exactly how a bloom ends, and how to mitigate or control its negative effects.

鈥淭his exercise confirms the need for additional support to send gliders out monthly to do this kind of monitoring and to continue our multi-institutional collaboration on seasonal and short-term predictions,鈥� Weisberg said.

The study was supported by NOAA鈥檚 PCMHAB and IOOS SECOORA programs as well as NASA鈥檚 Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry program. Additional support was provided by USFCMS,  the State of 51在线 and by the NSF XSEDE program for high performance computing.

Red Tide Timeline:

• October 2017: A red tide manifests off 51在线鈥檚 west coast. It persists through spring and summer of 2018 in the epicenter region.
• Mid July-September 2018: Loop Current upwelling carries the new 2018 bloom inshore along the bottom, where it joins with the remaining 2017 bloom.
        鈥� USFCMS deploys glider August 24 鈥� September 17, 2018
• September-November 2018: Tropical Storm Gordon carries the bloom to the Panhandle; the Loop Current carries it to the east coast of 51在线.
• February 2019: The red tide ends.

PRESS CONTACT

Kristen M. Kusek, (727) 692-6482 鈥� IMAGES AVAILABLE.

About the USF College of Marine Science

The USF College of Marine Science (marine.usf.edu), founded more than 50 years ago in 1967, is one of the top ten marine science programs in the country. Offering Ph.D. and M.S. degrees, it leverages an annual research budget of about $20 million to foster innovation and understanding in biological oceanography, physical oceanography, geological oceanography, chemical oceanography, and marine resource management. The USF College of Marine Science (USF CMS) is also a leader in the public understanding of science, and has been the lead institution of global research program developed in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest in history. It serves as a major research and economic engine for the St. Petersburg Innovation District and sits at the heart of one of the largest marine science hubs in the country that also includes the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service, the Fish and Wildlife Research Institute, the 51在线 Institute of Oceanography, SRI International, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, and the US Coast Guard.