Red tide, which has been plaguing most of Florida’s Gulf Coast since 2017’s Hurricane Irma, has now been detected in several counties in the southeastern coastal waters, north of the Florida Keys. The neurotoxin has been officially confirmed along Atlantic Ocean beaches in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties. The algae level from the blooms is lower than found on the Gulf Coast, but nevertheless, these new blooms only exacerbate an ecological and economic crisis for a state that has long been battling the algae crisis on its west coast and panhandle, in addition to the nightmare that is the annual freshwater blue-green algae bloom found during Florida’s rainy season, at the nutrient-laden St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers and Lake Okeechobee.
Swimmers have been advised to use caution when at the beach, but so far only a handful of beaches have been closed. Lifeguards and swimmers have complained of scratchy throats and coughing episodes. There have been carcasses of fish scattered along shores, but again, nothing like what has happened on the Gulf Coast. The City of Miami is taking precautions against the bloom in low lying areas as King Tide will arrive Saturday, and scientists are concerned that mats of algae may enter the city via floodwaters. The Miami Herald reports:Scientists believe the toxic algae got swept up in the Gulf’s Loop Current and then carried into the Florida Current, which flows north up the Atlantic coast before connecting with the Gulf Stream.
“If things get in the Loop Current, it’s the express route out of the Gulf,” said University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science oceanographer Nick Shay, who tracks and forecasts the current. “What happens in the gulf doesn’t necessarily stay in the Gulf.”snip
The tide appeared just after Hurricane Irma sucked water off the coast, so bottom water from the Florida Shelf where the algae live could have washed ashore in a process called upwelling, Shay said. University of South Florida oceanographer Bob Weisberg, who forecasts red tides for the state, also said blooms usually appear after the Loop Current crosses the western side of the Florida Shelf, pushing up deepwater nutrients that can feed the algae.
Once the blooms get blown inshore, they can feast on coastal nutrients, including polluted discharges from the lake.
Red tides are natural, but what is unnatural is the nutrient runoff from cities and agriculture (even dust originating in the Sahara) that feeds them. These nutrients cause the population of red tide organisms to explode. It has been determined that these blooms are increasingly severe due to pollution from the Mississippi River that settles offshore along the Gulf Coasts continental shelf. Oil from spills and the dispersants used to combat the slicks also lead to more and larger red tide events.
Poor beautiful Florida just can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to ecological calamity.
QZ’s Efrat Livni writes this about Florida’s scary future:
The bloom occurs almost annually in Florida. But its effects this year have been exceptionally devastating. It’s a terrifying sight to behold, and a stark foreshadowing of what may become commonplace as climate change transforms nature and our lives. Although scientists don’t know exactly what caused this particularly vicious red algae bloom, they do believe that warming waters brought on by human-induced weather changes and the effects of building development have contributed to the ever-more extreme red tides of the last half-century.
There’s a lot of talk about the threats posed by climate change—to animals, people, and the environment. But abstract chatter is hard to fathom. We can’t really imagine what it will be like when the reality we know is replaced, and what’s beautiful turns to rot. The red tide in Florida doesn’t just make the issue of global warming visible; it’s an all-out sensory onslaught. And it’s a reminder that climate change isn’t just dangerous. It’s also going to make the world an increasingly ugly and unpleasant place.
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There seem to be no signs that the red tide is abating. It’s impossible to look at the fish carcasses piling up and the empty city and not wonder if the dismal future predicted by environmental scientists is already here. If so, it’s not a pretty sight to behold.
This video offers an excellent overview of red tide.
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