A Shocking Green

“It’s neon green,” described Steve Lovitt, the owner of Gem Beach Marina, “floating on the surface of the water.”

In the summer of 2017, Lake Erie turned increasingly green and the transformation continued well into the autumn months due to algae blooms. The severity of the bloom ranks it as one of the top five worst blooms this century.

The phenomenal green, almost glowing color that infects Lake Erie comes from phytoplankton, a microalga that floats to the top of the lake’s surface. Such algae are common in the summer, but can continue to thrive into the later fall season if the temperature stays warm enough and there are available nutrients to sustain the algae, such as run offs from surrounding farmlands.

Lovitt has seen algae blooms countless times and he explained that this year the western basin of Lake Erie received the worst of the rampant algae this past summer and fall. This was lucky for the tourism of the Lake Erie Islands which wasn’t as heavily impacted; however, this was extremely unfortunate for charter boat captains. The fishing was terrible.

The algae blooms suffocate fish, kill plants and deplete oxygen in the water. The depletion of oxygen makes it impossible for fish and plants to survive in those areas, rendering them dead zones.

Beyond Dead Zone

However, suffocating fish and plants aren’t the only issue. The algae can turn toxic.

The blooms in Lake Erie contain microcystis, a kind of freshwater cyanobacteria that contains toxins, toxins that can be sure to ruin anyone’s day on the lake. These toxins can contaminate drinking water and can create human and animal health problems. The issues arise from direct contact with the infected algae and involve skin irritation and respiratory distress.

This is concerning because over the past decade, the algae blooms have been an annual summer occurrence at Lake Erie. It’s almost like a tradition now.

Satellite images of the lake help the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) analyze the conditions of the blooms.

On The Move

Last summer’s algae bloom was first noticed around mid-July in Maumee Bay. It didn’t take long for the algae to spread, and by the end of September, it had grown toward the Central Basin and north toward the coast of Ontario.

Like the previous year, this last year’s bloom was double-peaked. There was a jump in the algae’s biomass in August then a decrease followed by a massive increase in the middle of September. Toward the end of September, the bloom covered 1,000 square miles from Toledo to the coast of Ontario.

Autumn Glow

As the rest of the area surrounding Erie began to turn the autumn colors with rich reds, yellows and oranges, the lake itself only continued to glow a more shocking green.

Unfortunately, winds were too calm to allow the surface waters to mix very much, prolonging the uniform green on the lake’s surface. Stagnant, still waters are a favorite breeding spot for algae because there aren’t any disturbances to interrupt their formation. Areas where cyanobacteria clump together create the brightest greens in satellite images.

Lovitt pointed out that this unfortunate infection impacts the boating industry in an entirely negative way. As mentioned before, fishing took a pretty hard hit.

He also explained that people don’t want to go boating as much because of the health concerns.

“They don’t want their children getting in the water,” added Lovitt.

It’s understandable that they wouldn’t.

For More Information

NASA Earth Observatory

earthobservatory.nasa.gov

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association

www.noaa.gov