• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

Great Lake In North America Turns A Lively Green Due To Toxic Algae Takeover

September 10, 2024 by Deborah Bloomfield

With summer drawing to a close, an algal bloom in Lake Erie that began forming around June is still going strong, bursting with a glow of emerald green (or should that be blue?).

Advertisement

The Landsat-9 satellite snapped images of the algal bloom in Lake Erie on August 13, revealing it covered approximately 830 square kilometers (320 square miles) of water within its western basin, according to NASA Earth Observatory. It continued to grow to this season’s likely largest extent of 1,700 square kilometers (660 square miles) on August 22.  

The unusual green-blue color is the result of microscopic organisms known as cyanobacteria that have been kicked into overdrive by warm temperatures and an excess of nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorous, from agriculture or industry.  

Weather can further amplify these factors. In April 2024, for instance, the surrounding area of Lake Erie received a downpour of record rainfall followed by an intense heatwave, providing the perfect fuel for this summer’s bloom.

Lake Erie, the fourth largest of the five Great Lakes of North America, regularly experiences algal blooms, primarily because of nutrient runoff from the Maumee River.

As interesting as it may look, algal blooms can be dangerous for both wildlife and humans. Some of the most dominant organisms in the Lake Erie bloom are Microcystis cyanobacteria, which produce the toxin microcystin. The toxins become concentrated in scum on the water’s surface, although they can also be airborne.

Advertisement

Severe human health effects are fairly rare, but exposure to cyanobacterial toxins is known to produce allergic reactions such as skin rashes, eye irritation, and respiratory symptoms, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Livestock and pets can become very sick if they drink water contaminated with toxins. Fish are also known to suffer mass die-offs in water bodies with persistent blooms. Toxins are part of the problem, but they also have to deal with a lack of oxygen caused by the abundance of microorganisms in the water. 

NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory has eight stations dotted in western Lake Erie to keep an eye on levels of these nasty toxins. Their data suggests levels of microcystin peaked earlier in the summer, around late July and early August, although concentrations still remain high in early September. 

Data like this, as well as detailed satellite imagery, plays a key role in understanding algal blooms and forecasting when they might strike. It might also provide some clues as to why big blooms are starting to occur for the first time in the other Great Lakes, such as Lake Superior. By no surprise, climate change is a prime suspect.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Tennis – Kerber sails through to set up battle of former champions
  2. Canadians rush to early polls in election, mail-in ballots underwhelm
  3. This “Masterpiece Of Ancient Egyptian Art” Once Hung In A Lavish Palace
  4. Brain Tumors Are Cognitive Parasites – How Brain Cancer Hijacks Neural Circuits And Causes Cognitive Decline

Source Link: Great Lake In North America Turns A Lively Green Due To Toxic Algae Takeover

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • In 1973, NASA Sent Two Spiders Into Space To See If They Can Spin Webs – And They Learnt A Lot
  • Meet The Many Species Of Freaky Looking “Assassin Spiders” That Only Eat Other Spiders
  • Your Dog’s TV Preferences Might Reveal Their Personality
  • Some Human Gut Bacteria Can Absorb Harmful Toxic “Forever Chemicals” So They Can Be Pooped Out
  • You Could Float Through 10 Countries Before The World’s Most International River Spat You Out
  • Enormous Coronal Hole And Beast-Like Crawling Prominences Dazzle On The Active Sun
  • Dramatic Drone Footage Of Iceland’s Latest Volcanic Eruption Shows An Epic Scene From Hell
  • A Shrimp That Lives In A Tree? Indonesia’s Cyclops Mountains Are Home To Some Seriously Strange Wildlife
  • Is NASA’s Claim That Saturn Could Float On Water Really True?
  • Pangea Proxima: This Is What Planet Earth May Look Like 250 Million Years In The Future
  • The Story Of Dogxim, The Fox-Dog Hybrid That Shouldn’t Have Existed
  • Neanderthal Butchers From Different Caves Had Their Own Specialities
  • On July 20, The US And Canada Will Witness The Little-Known Seven Sisters Eclipse
  • First-Ever Giant Ichthyosaur Soft Tissues Preserved In “Extraordinary Fossil” Dating Back 183 Million Years
  • The Worst Day In History For Humans
  • Could You Survive Being Sucked Into A Tornado?
  • AI Aliens: What If Extraterrestrial Life Is Artificially Intelligent?
  • Lighting Hit Apollo 12 Just 36.5 Seconds After Launch – “After That It Got Very Interesting”
  • Northwest Africa 12264: Ancient Meteorite May Change Our Timeline Of The Solar System
  • A New Hole Has Emerged In The “Hottest, Oldest, And Most Dynamic” Part Of Yellowstone National Park
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version