Algae bloom

You may or may not have heard of toxic algae blooms. If you have, it may have been something related to local beaches, including warnings not to swim or harvest any shellfish. But these potentially deadly occurrences affect inland fresh water as well, including sources used by hikers for drinking. In 2022, Pacific Crest Trail thru-hikers may have been sickened by toxic cyanobacterial blooms. So how can you tell if a water source has been rendered dangerous by algae? And if it has, what, if…

Here’s another favorite Overview from 2017 - a massive bloom of cyanobacteria in the Baltic Sea. In August 2015, a bloom spanning more than 100 square kilometers covered these waters. Cyanobacteria are a type of marine bacteria that capture and store solar energy through photosynthesis. While some are toxic to humans and animals, large blooms can cause an oxygen-depleted dead zone where other organisms cannot survive. Scientists believe that blooms are more likely to form in the presence…

Photo about Algae blooming in a lake in summer. Image of wisconsin, green, nature - 20258989

Photo about Green algae bubbles with ice. Image of swamp, frost, plants - 18222994

Algae blooms have turned huge tracts of Antarctica into green spaces.

Green algae blooms swirling around the Baltic Sea reveal multiplying phytoplankton– microscopic marine plants that drift on or near the surface of the sea. The streaks, eddies and whirls of the late summer blooms mixed by winds and currents are clearly visible from space. ESA’s Earth observing satellites continuously watch over the ocean to monitor and protect our environment. 📷contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data (2019) processed by ESA, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO. #WorldOceanDay

Toxic formations across the US and the Baltic are part of a worrying trend linked to the climate crisis and farming methods

20 million Americans mobilized on April 22, 1970; 30 years later, that number was up to 200 million citizens of the Earth. What was the cause that brought these people together? The desire to make the Earth a better place.

Colonies of fast-growing algae and bacteria have struck at least 460 lakes, ponds and streams in the United States this year — blooms that killed cattle and dogs and closed beaches from California to New York, a nationwide analysis by The Post and Courier shows.

An oxygen-starved area of almost 165,000 square kilometres in the Gulf of Oman is now the world’s largest marine “dead zone.” Incapable of supporting