Algae bloom seen from space causes concern

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Now this cannot be a good thing, although they say it is non-toxic. It is almost as big as Vancouver Island.

VICTORIA (CNS) -- An algae bloom so big it can be seen from space has scientists worried that global warming might have contributed to creating the swirling mass of phytoplankton running the length of the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Scientists at the Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney, B.C., near Victoria, have been tracking the bloom of algae since NASA posted a picture featuring the swirling blue-green cloud on its website Sunday. They believe the bloom consists mainly of coccolithophore, a naturally occurring, single-cell phytoplankton.

It's the biggest algae bloom institute physicist Jim Gowen has ever seen.

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Wonder what caused this to happen? Hope it doesn't affect the salmon runs this year.

Wow.. impressive..!!
Isn,t this a good thing though?, as i believe algae is the biggest supplier of oxygen on the planet..

I always thought it was trees and used to despair everytime they ruined another rainforest

It's my understanding that excessive algae blooms are extremely detrimental to the local habitat. In fact they can cause die off of fish by robbing the waters of oxygen. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

More importantly, isn't an algae bloom of this size that far north cause for concern? Usually these things would happen in warmer waters much further south. Again correct me if I'm wrong.

The size and visibility of it are one thing, but I find the location the most worrisome point of all.

What caused it is simple.
All of the organisms that eat or live off it are no longer present.

Where are you getting that from? The article indicates concern it is from global warming. I've never heard of algae blooms getting out of control from lack of wildlife to keep it in check. I've only heard of it the other way around.

These things can grow quickly out of control and then threaten the sea life around them, not the other way around.

[edit on 7/4/2006 by Relentless]

[edit on 7/4/2006 by Relentless]

Common sense.
If there is more green stuff, then there should be more fish to eat it.
More food = more baby fishes

Nature should have balanced itself out by now.

In a sense it is global warming, the organisms that live off of it have
been killed by global warming.

Originally posted by Relentless
It's my understanding that excessive algae blooms are extremely detrimental to the local habitat. In fact they can cause die off of fish by robbing the waters of oxygen. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

More importantly, isn't an algae bloom of this size that far north cause for concern? Usually these things would happen in warmer waters much further south. Again correct me if I'm wrong.

The size and visibility of it are one thing, but I find the location the most worrisome point of all.

Relentless, you are right. No oxygen for the fish to breath, fish kill possible on a massive scale. This is not a good thing.

first we need more information...like some scientists out there examining it first hand and the area, to see whats really going on

we need more information about it
right away

Could it possibly be connected with those earthquakes that were happening arond there??

Researchers were sent out on Friday. They should get to the bottom of this.

source

Researchers will head out aboard the Canadian Coast Guard ship Sir Wilfrid Laurier on Friday to collect water samples from the bloom area. They want to confirm which species of algae the bloom consists of, as well as the level of algae concentration.

source

Unlike other algae which produce toxins, known as red tide, coccolithphore algae is not poisonous. But in vast quantities, it could harm other marine life, said institute research scientist Angelica Pena.

So not that bad...but....

Alive, the algae produces oxygen, but when it dies and decomposes, it can consume so much oxygen from the water that fish and marine mammals will die.

[edit on 6-7-2006 by imbalanced]