HABSOS (Harmful Algal BloomS Observing System) is a data collection and distribution system for harmful algal bloom (HAB) information in the Gulf of Mexico. The goal of HABSOS is to provide environmental managers, scientists, and the public with a data driven resource for HAB events. Cell counts and environmental information are combined into a single product and distributed using the HABSOS Mapping System. HABSOS strives to provide the most accurate picture of harmful algal bloom location and quantity by using the latest sample data available. This dataset contains data from Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, as well as data along the Florida Shelf in the Gulf of Mexico and along the eastern coast of Florida in the North Atlantic Ocean.

HABSOS (Harmful Algal BloomS Observing System) is a data collection and distribution system for harmful algal bloom (HAB) information in the Gulf of America. The goal of HABSOS is to provide environmental managers, scientists, and the public with a data driven resource for HAB events. Cell counts and environmental information are combined into a single product and distributed using the HABSOS Mapping System. HABSOS strives to provide the most accurate picture of harmful algal bloom location and quantity by using the latest sample data available. This dataset contains data from Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, as well as data along the Florida Shelf in the Gulf of America and along the eastern coast of Florida in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Multiple Harmful Algae Bloom (HAB) (K. brevis) data sets were obtained for this data layer, including Harmful Algal BloomS Observing System data (HABSOS) from NCEI (1953-2018) and the NOAA HAB Operational Forecast System Dataset (2007-2018). Data includes samples from Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI), and the HAB Monitoring Database. Data were combined and reviewed for erroneous entries. Duplicate data from the resulting database were deleted, leaving a total of 155,307 observations. For the purpose of this K. brevis layer, only data from 2000-2018 were used due to sampling biases. An 8 square kilometer hexagonal grid was created covering the Gulf of Mexico and eastern Florida. Each year between 2000-2018 was evaluated separately. If a grid cell contained an observation that registered a value of over 100,000 cells/L (the lethal toxicity level for finfish), the grid cell received a value of '1‘. All other grid cells received a value of '0’ to represent observations below the lethal level of concern to fish. After all years were evaluated, the values for each year were totaled to obtain a resulting frequency value for that grid cell, representing the number of years that grid cell had values greater than or equal to 100,000 cells/L for the years 2000-2018.

Harmful algal blooms of the toxic dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis, have caused massive fish kills in the Gulf of Mexico since the 1500's, with most occurrences on the west coast of Florida. In 1996, the list of states that have experiences natural resource, public health and economic impacts related to this organism expanded, with the addition of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, to include all the Gulf-coast states and North Carolina. Estimates of economic impacts to Florida and North Carolina from two moderate intensity blooms ranged from 15 to 25 million dollars respectively. The harmful impacts caused by K. brevis occur only when cell concentrations increase significantly above low background concentrations that are present year-round in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. Once a bloom has developed offshore in typically oligotrophic waters, cell concentrations at the 105 level can be maintained for months. During 21 of the past 22 years, red tide blooms have been observed within the region between Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor. The key to understanding any HAB lies in knowing how one algal species has adapted and come to dominate in its particular realm of physical, biological and chemical conditions. Our ability to predict initiation, maintenance, and dispersal of blooms on the Florida shelf has been severely limited by the lack of a quantitative description, or model, of their population dynamics and the physical, biological and chemical regime in which they are embedded. The modeling components of this project will incorporate the quantitative description of blooms and their surrounding environment provided by the field and laboratory portions of this project. The field component will employ a set of monthly hydrographic transects.

An Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) model of the WFS explicitly simulating HABs was recently developed for illuminating the potential ecosystem impacts of red tides within the WFS region. These results were produced by research funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA’s) RESTORE Act Science Program under award NA15NOS4510233 a the University of Miami and award NA15NOS4510232 to the University of South Florida.

Measurements of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in the Gulf of Mexico, Chesapeake Bay, and Great Lake regions during 2006.

The northern Gulf of Mexico coast spans two major climate gradients and represents an excellent natural laboratory for developing climate-influenced ecological models. In this project, we used these zones of remarkable transition to develop macroclimate-based models for quantifying the regional responses of coastal wetland ecosystems to climate variation. In addition to providing important fish and wildlife habitat and supporting coastal food webs, these coastal wetlands provide many ecosystem goods and services including clean water, stable coastlines, food, recreational opportunities, and stored carbon. Our objective was to examine and forecast the effects of macroclimatic drivers on wetland ecosystem structure and function in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

This collection contains inputs to, and outputs from the NOAA Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Experimental Forecast for Lake Erie in the form of bulletin documents and processed satellite imagery in GeoTIFF format, beginning on 2008-09-04 and continuing to 2016-11-01. The HAB Experimental Bulletin was operated by the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science to develop and produce experimental forecast bulletins for cyanobacteria blooms (blue-green algae) in Lake Erie. The bulletins contain an analysis of the location of cyanobacteria blooms, forecasts of transport, mixing, scum formation and bloom decline based on the analysis of information from data providers. The bulletins are emailed to subscribers twice weekly during an active bloom. Each year, NCEI creates a new accession containing the data collected during the previous 12 months. The experimental bulletin was started in 2008 and became operational in 2017.

This collection contains inputs to, and outputs from the experimental status NOAA Harmful Algal Bloom Operational Forecast System (HAB-OFS) for the Gulf of Mexico in the form of documents, processed satellite imagery in HDF4 format, image files, and Geographic Information System (GIS) files, beginning on 2000-09-21, ending on 2003-12-22. The HAB-OFS is operated by the Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services to produce forecast bulletins for harmful algal blooms (HABs) of Karenia brevis (red tide) in the Gulf of Mexico. The bulletins contain an analysis of ocean color satellite imagery, field observations, models, public health reports and buoy data and forecasts of potential HAB transport, intensification and associated respiratory irritation based on the analysis of information from data providers. The bulletins are issued twice weekly during an active HAB and once weekly during a non-HAB period to a list of subscribers.