FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Algae blooms and fish kills aren’t just an environmental issue, they are also an economic one. It has costed Florida billions of dollars over the last few decades in clean up, lost tourism and health issues.
South Florida has seen the damage poor water quality can cause time and time again. But scientists say new technology could help warn them before the worst happens.
Researchers with Florida Atlantic University say they are testing a new tool that could help predict algae blooms before they start.
“Predicting an algae bloom is really the holy grail, right?” said Jordon Beckler, associate research professor for FAU. “You probably have a few dozen researchers in Florida and across the nation trying to predict algae blooms before they happen. It’s extremely complicated, and a big missing piece is what is coming off of the sediments.”
To help fill that gap, scientists have developed C.A.R.O.S.E.L. -- short for Chamber Array for Observing Sediment Exchanges Long Term.
PhD student, Mason Thackson, described the device as something similar to a moon lander -- except instead of landing on the moon, it lands on the sea floor.
Working through a grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the autonomous submersible measures nutrients in the water, including ammonia, nitrogen and phosphorus, along with oxygen levels.
“It takes water from inside this chamber to this sensor here, which has all kinds of different sensors,” Thackson said. ”And we do that to monitor the concentration change over time.”
Sediments -- especially in shallow water -- play a major role in water quality.
“If you don’t have a tool that’s capable of capturing that, then you’re missing a big part of the story and you might come to the wrong conclusions as to what’s driving something like an algae bloom,” Thackson said.
While technology to measure nutrients in waterways already exists, CAROSEL’s ability to take constant measurements for weeks at a time could significantly improve scientists’ ability to predict water quality problems.
“Indeed we are collaborating with colleagues that are making computer models that can hopefully predict blooms before they start,” Beckler said.
High concentrations of nitrogen can signal the beginning of an algae bloom, while low oxygen levels can lead to hypoxia, which can cause fish kills.
Scientists say blooms can grow fast.
“These algae blooms, they’ll grow, they’ll double in size over the course of a day,” Beckler said. “So they happen fast. And so it’s important to obtain that high-frequency information.”
Researchers with FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute recently deployed the CAROSEL for the first time in Lake Okeechobee.
The device is connected to a tower in the middle of the lake that sends water up to be analyzed.
Scientists say the lake is one of the toughest freshwater environments to test equipment because the water is so turbid. If the system works there, they say it should work almost anywhere.
“This is Lake Okeechobee,” Beckler said. “It it’s going to work in Lake Okeechobee, it should work anywhere. This is one of the most difficult environments to work in as far as freshwater goes because of how turbid it is.”
The device can also be pre-programmed to run on its own, collecting measurements and transmitting the data over the internet so researchers can analyze it back in their offices.
“We can pre-program it with a sequence of actions and it will take off all on its own with no user intervention and collect these measurements for us and transmit that data through the internet so that we can play with the data in our offices in our nice comfortable office back at Harbor Branch,” Thackson said.
The prototype is designed to be versatile. While the first test is happening in Lake Okeechobee, scientists say it is also built to handle saltwater and could eventually be tested in Biscayne Bay.
Researchers say the technology could eventually give scientists early warnings about conditions that lead to fish kills.
“All of the processes that are removing oxygen from the water, 50 to 80% of that could be attributed to the sediments,” Beckler said. ”So it’s very important to understand the extent that the sediments are consuming oxygen from the water.”
If those conditions can be forecast ahead of time, scientists say it could change the way water quality is monitored.
Researchers hope future versions of the system can be smaller and less expensive so they can be deployed more widely across Florida and beyond.
FAU scientists plan to deploy the CAROSEL up to eight times this year, with each deployment lasting about two weeks.
If the data shows conditions that could lead to an algae bloom or hypoxia, scientists say it could give officials time to respond -- either by mitigating the damage or by tracing and addressing the root cause before the problem gets worse.
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