2/29/2024
WT Staff
HAPPENING NOW
NCCOS captures image during high wind advisory
Satellite photo shows Lake Erie at 35 mph wind speed
Water news for Thursday, February 29, 2024 1127 am EST
Tracking the Lake Erie HAB - Harmful Algal Bloom Update
National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science satellite program for monitoring the Lake Erie west basin captured an image yesterday at a fantastically high surface wind speed. The wind speed is an important factor for the program, the image itself is one part of the research data, the capacity to interpret the image is based on the conditions at the surface of the water body, including the wind speed.
Wind speed above 4 mph can obscure even a cloud free image of the water, as the camera cannot capture the HAB material that has become submerged beneath the surface of the waves.
Interpretation of the HAB images recorded by Copernicus-Sentinel satellite could be misleading without the wind speed. In the image capture yesterday, there is no risk of misinterpretation of the HAB extent or concentration as the lake is socked in with cloud cover and we cannot see the water anyway. The issue with wind comes into effect when we believe we have a clear unobstructed view of the water, while being unaware of surface wind conditions that could be allowing the HAB to evade detection by the satellite camera.
For a period of time over the winter months, the images supplied by NCCOS did not state a wind speed. WTOH.us was cautious in the use of these images, knowing that we could not be sure what we may be missing. Now that the wind speed detection equipment is providing measurements, these also need to be verified, the equipment needs to be checked for accuracy.
The Feb 28 image is cloud obscured, taken at a measured surface wind speed 35.5 mph, possibly the highest recorded wind speed this organization has reported for Lake Erie. This image was taken on a day with a National Weather Service High wind advisory warning of gusts up to 50 mph on Lake Erie and Ohio Counties along the lakeshore.
As we turn the calendar over to March, we enter the critical condition for Lake Erie as the drinking water supply for twelve and a half million people. The next 153 days determine what sort of season we can expect for drinking water quality. On the tenth anniversary of the Toledo Water Crisis, where cyanobacteria toxins from the overfed HAB infiltrated the drinking water system for half a million Ohio residents, the water plant was shut down for three days.
Microcystins is a hepatotoxin, an agent that attacks a vital organ causing damage to humans and animals. The toxin is insidious, it cannot be removed from drinking water by boiling. In fact, boiling concentrates toxins, chemicals or heavy metals. Public drinking water facilities in Ohio test for this public health menace toxin produced by the HAB on a bi-weekly schedule beginning in the first full week of June each year. As WTOH.us follows the annual life-cycle of the cyanobacteria mass, we observe the conditions of spring rains and snow melt, as yet uncontrolled conditions that feed the HAB.
Heading into the critical condition for spring rains and snow melt, the ground that sheds runoff to Lake Erie west basin, namely the watersheds of northwest Ohio, have been below seasonal normal moisture conditions. Thanks to the recording of streamflows across the USA, we have an idea what to expect, average spring streamflows are up over the last twenty year period, while summers have become dry over that same period. We watch and observe the streamflow, drought and HAB conditions with an eye to gaining more understanding. What can be done to fix the naturally occurring and applied nutrients securely in the landscape to feed crops and wild plants instead of feeding the HAB in Lake Erie? WTOH.us investigates. More to follow.
The Lake Erie west basin appeared mostly clear of HAB activity in the last cloud-free image, captured Feb 26 at 2.6 mph wind speed. Here we saw clear water from Maumee Bay up the Michigan shoreline past Detroit, including the Canadian shore with no visible HAB activity. The Ohio shoreline was also clear, open water clear of HAB activity with one small localized HAB on shore near outlet of Huron River.
USGS Waterwatch service is unavailable for an update of streamflow and drought in Ohio as of this update. More to follow.
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