Harmful Algal Bloom Photo Gallery
All readers are invited to submit their optical creations of HAB phenomena
"visible" phytoplankton blooms
California Noctiluca Bloom 
Florida Red Tide Bloom of Gymnodinium
breve 
Texas Brown Tide Bloom of
Aureoumbra 
Close-up of a Texas Brown Tide Bloom of
Aureoumbra 
York River (Chesapeake Bay) Red Tide
Bloom of Cochlodinium heterolobatum 
1999 Hong Kong Red Tide (Unidentified species)
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This red tide bloom followed closely after heavy rains associated with
Hurricane Floyd, which ended a very dry summer. The photo on the left shows
the surface slick of the bloom. The middle photo shows how the bloom appeared
after wind dispersed it in the surface waters. The photo on the right depicts
the same area after the bloom period was over. (All 3 photos credit - Maureen
Keller, Bigelow Lab.)
photomicrographs of Harmful Algal Species
Immunofluorescently-labeled Alexandrium
cell
Alexandrium sp. (most likely fundyense) from a bloom near Casco Bay,
Maine in 1998. The Alexandrium cell (about 35µm in diameter) is the
smaller of the two cells. It shows the red autofluorescence of the chlorophyll
surrounded by a bright green immunofluorescent stain that specifically targets
the cell surface antigens of Alexandrium. The other larger cell is a
co-occurring heterotrophic Protoperidinium sp. that lacks chlorophyll.
(Kristin Gribble, WHOI) 
Fluorescently-labeled Alexandrium
cell 
Mixed bloom of Dinophysis acuta and D.
norvegica co-occurring with a bloom of Ceratium furca
satellite imagery during bloom events
North Carolina Sea Surface Temperature image of a
Gymnodinium breve bloom
The image to the left is an AVHRR satellite infrared image depicting
sea-surface temperature off the coast of North Carolina in late October, 1987.
This advanced, very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) photo shows a blue
filament of Gulf Stream water (24-25°C) near Cape lookout that is now known to
have transported toxic Gymnodinium breve cells from the Gulf Stream
(deep blue), into the colder (yellow) coastal waters. The filament remained
detectable in satellite images for three weeks. (T. Leming) 
Gulf of Maine Sea Surface Temperature image of an
Alexandrium sp. bloom
Along the southern Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts coastlines,
Alexandrium blooms are known to be associated with a lower salinity,
warmer water mass (termed the Western Maine Coastal Current) that forms during
spring due to runoff of local rivers. Satellite-derived Sea Surface
Temperature (SST) imagery can be used to show the location of the warmer
waters of the WMCC and associated Alexandrium cells as it is influenced
by winds. (Click on the thumbnail image to the left.) Visible in the larger
image is a narrow band of deeper colder water (blue) that came to the surface
adjacent to the coast and replaced the warmer WMCC waters (yellow, orange and
red) that were transported offshore by southwesterly winds. Under these
conditions (known as upwelling), shellfish toxicity declined along the coast
the Alexandrium cells were transported offshore with the waters of the
WMCC. (NOAA Coastwatch, Bruce Keafer, WHOI) 
Florida Coastal Zone Color Scanner Image
(CZCS) of a Gymnodinium breve bloom
This coastal zone color scanner (CZCS) image indicates a red tide bloom in
November, 1978. The red areas south of Sarasota have chlorophyll a
concentrations of greater than 3 micrograms per liter. Water samples confirmed
the presence of G. breve in those waters.
The Harmful
Algae Page is supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) / National
Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) grant to:
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Woods Hole, MA 02543
Please direct comments or suggestions for the Harmful Algae Page
to:
jkleindinst@whoi.edu