Research Project: Supplement request for PCMHAB: Expanding Harmful Algal Bloom Mitigation in the Gulf of Mexico with Operational Support and Training for the Imaging FlowCytobot Network
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- Henrichs, Darren
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The network of Imaging FlowCytobots (IFCBs) has provided early warning for harmful algal blooms (HABs) along the Texas coast since 2007. The IFCB combines flow cytometry and imaging technology to collect a high resolution (hourly) time series of the phytoplankton dynamics and their response to environmental changes. One extremely valuable product of this decade-long time series of phytoplankton abundance has been the successful early warning of eight HAB events. An automated image classification and notification (email alerts to state managers [Texas Department of State Health Services and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department]) system has been developed based on the IFCB data stream. The lack of any phytoplankton abundance information at this crucial, central Texas coastal station has rendered the early warning system less useful for HAB detection and early warning. The goal of this supplemental funds request is to replace equipment lost or damaged during Hurricane Harvey and its aftermath, and to obtain an IFCB instrument that will permit an uninterrupted time series for the Texas IFCB network.
The IFCB in Port Aransas was deployed on the pier of the University of Texas Marine Science Institute and had been in operation since September 2007. The pier was destroyed when a drilling ship broke free of its moorings during the storm and eventually crashed into the pier. IFCB. The loss of the continuous data collection by the IFCB has directly impacted several ongoing projects. The result is a data gap in our time series and loss of HAB early warning capability.
The second IFCB deployment site at Surfside Beach, TX was established to expand the HAB early warning network and to look at the coastal connectivity between the Port Aransas and Surfside sites. Models of coastal currents and current velocity/direction data obtained from the Texas Automated Buoy System (TABS) are combined with IFCB data at both locations to determine the connectedness of the two sites to improve early warning of HABs.
Gaps in data at the two sites severely impact the effectiveness of the early warning network for HABs. A new IFCB will permit immediate restoration of the time series if a deployed instrument requires maintenance or is damaged at Port Aransas or Surfside Beach deployments.
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Cooperative Agreement