Phytoplankton Blooms See Two-Decade Surge along World’s Coastlines

An aerial view of toxic blue-green algae bloom on the Baltic Sea coast at Tyreso near Stockholm, Sweden, June 25, 2020. (TT News Agency/via Reuters)
An aerial view of toxic blue-green algae bloom on the Baltic Sea coast at Tyreso near Stockholm, Sweden, June 25, 2020. (TT News Agency/via Reuters)
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Phytoplankton Blooms See Two-Decade Surge along World’s Coastlines

An aerial view of toxic blue-green algae bloom on the Baltic Sea coast at Tyreso near Stockholm, Sweden, June 25, 2020. (TT News Agency/via Reuters)
An aerial view of toxic blue-green algae bloom on the Baltic Sea coast at Tyreso near Stockholm, Sweden, June 25, 2020. (TT News Agency/via Reuters)

Huge blooms of phytoplankton — microscopic algae floating on the ocean's surface — have become larger and more frequent along the world's coastlines, according to new research, bringing benefits to fisheries but also potentially causing harm.

Between 2003 and 2020, coastal phytoplankton blooms increased by about 13% in extent, covering an additional 4 million square kilometers of the global ocean, the Nature study found. And the blooms occurred more often, up by 59% during that period.

While marine animals such as fish and whales eat phytoplankton, it can also prove toxic in large amounts, starving the ocean of oxygen and leading to "dead zones" that wreak chaos on the food chain and fisheries. A 2016 algal bloom near Chile, for example, cost salmon farms $800 million.

"Phytoplankton blooms can be really beneficial," said study co-author Don Anderson who leads the US National Office for Harmful Algal Blooms at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. "Many of the really productive fisheries in the world's ocean are driven by blooms. It's important to understand why they might be changing."

Scientists used satellite observations to look for blooms, programming a system to pick up the color of the algae. However, they weren't able to distinguish between benign and harmful blooms.

While some regions saw weaker blooms over the past two decades, including the California Current, blooms strengthened in the northern Gulf of Mexico and the East and South China Seas.

What's driving the increase in phytoplankton blooms varies by region, scientists said. In some cases, warmer sea surface temperatures appear to be behind the boom. Changes in climate can also mess with ocean circulation, affecting mixing between ocean layers and how nutrients move around the ocean.

Human development also plays a role. Fertilizer runoff from agriculture can spike nutrient loads in the ocean, leading to blooms. Researchers also found that more aquaculutre around places like Finland, China, and Vietnam might be associated with more algal blooms.

Outside of fertilizer use and aquaculutre, "I would also be interested in relationships between population increases along coastal areas and bloom increase," said Nandita Basu, a Canada Research Chair in Global Water Sustainability and Ecohydrology not affiliated with the study.

"This would be especially relevant for some countries in the southern hemisphere where a major part of the domestic waste is not treated."



Storm Dumps Record Rain in Northern California, While US Northeast Deals with Winter Storms

A pedestrian walks along a flooded street during a storm Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Santa Rosa, Calif. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
A pedestrian walks along a flooded street during a storm Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Santa Rosa, Calif. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
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Storm Dumps Record Rain in Northern California, While US Northeast Deals with Winter Storms

A pedestrian walks along a flooded street during a storm Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Santa Rosa, Calif. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
A pedestrian walks along a flooded street during a storm Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Santa Rosa, Calif. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

A major storm dropped more snow and record rain in California, causing small landslides and flooding some streets, while on the opposite side of the country blizzard or winter storm warnings were in effect Saturday for areas spanning from the Northeast to central Appalachia.
The storm on the West Coast arrived in the Pacific Northwest earlier this week, killing two people and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands, mostly in the Seattle area, before its strong winds moved through Northern California, The Associated Press reported.
Santa Rosa, California, saw its wettest three-day period on record with about 12.5 inches (32 centimeters) of rain falling by Friday evening, according to the National Weather Service in the Bay Area.
Flooding closed part of scenic Highway 1, also known as the Pacific Coast Highway, in Mendocino County and there was no estimate for when it would reopen, according to the California Department of Transportation.
On the East Coast, another storm brought much-needed rain to New York and New Jersey, where rare wildfires have raged in recent weeks, and heavy snow to northeastern Pennsylvania. Parts of West Virginia were under a blizzard warning through Saturday morning, with up to 2 feet (61 centimeters) of snow and high winds making travel treacherous.
As residents in the Seattle area headed into the weekend, more than 112,000 people were still without power from this season’s strongest atmospheric river — a long plume of moisture that forms over an ocean and flows through the sky over land. Crews worked to clear streets of downed lines, branches and other debris, while cities opened warming centers so people heading into their fourth day without power could get warm food and plug in their cellphones and other devices.
Gale warnings were issued off Washington, Oregon and California, and high wind warnings were in effect across parts of Northern California and Oregon. There were winter storm warnings for parts of the California Cascades and the Sierra Nevada.
Forecasters predicted that both coasts would begin to see a reprieve from the storms as the system in the northeast moves into eastern Canada and the one in the West heads south.
By Friday night, some relief was already being seen in California, where the sheriff’s office in Humboldt County downgraded evacuation orders to warnings for people near the Eel River after forecasters said the waterway would see moderate but not major flooding.
The system roared ashore on the West Coast on Tuesday as a “ bomb cyclone,” which occurs when a cyclone intensifies rapidly. It unleashed fierce winds that toppled trees onto roads, vehicles and homes.
Debra Campbell said she was sitting in the dark with a flashlight that night, unable to sleep as strong winds lashed her house in Crescent City, California. With a massive boom, a 150-foot (46-meter) tree came crashing down on her home and car.
“It was just so incredibly frightening,” AP quoted Campbell as saying. “Once I realized it wasn’t going to come through the ceiling where I was at, I was able to grab my car keys and my purse. ... And I open the front door and it’s just solid tree.”
In the Northeast, which has been hit by drought, more than 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain was expected by Saturday morning north of New York City, with snow mixed in at higher elevations.
Despite the mess, the precipitation was expected to help ease drought conditions in a state that has seen an exceptionally dry fall.
“It’s not going to be a drought buster, but it’s definitely going to help when all this melts,” said Bryan Greenblatt, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Binghamton, New York.
Heavy snow fell in northeastern Pennsylvania, including the Pocono Mountains, prompting a raft of school closures. Higher elevations reported up to 17 inches (43 centimeters), with lesser accumulations in valley cities like Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. More than 85,000 customers in 10 counties lost power, and the state transportation department imposed speed restrictions on some highways.