- Success Stories, Uncategorized
- Environmental Resource Assessment & Management
Monitoring Algal Blooms for Harmful Toxins
麻豆传媒 employee owners support NOAA鈥檚 National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) Harmful Algal Blooms (HAB) Sensor Development Team in their efforts to detect and monitor these harmful algal blooms in coastal waters where they are likely to occur. HAB monitoring is critical for detecting harmful toxins produced by some algae. When present in over abundance, these toxins affect fish and shellfish consumed by wildlife and harvested by commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishermen potentially causing severe illness when consumed. In the Pacific Northwest, an over abundance of Pseudo-nitzschia produces domoic acid, a powerful neurotoxin that causes amnesic shellfish poisoning with symptoms ranging from intestinal distress to headache and confusion to death in severe cases.
The team uses the Environmental Sample Processor (ESP) instrument to develop, optimize, and validate HAB toxin sensors that are deployed on ESP instruments in cooperation with collaborators at NOAA Fisheries Northwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA Research Great Lakes Environmental Laboratory, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Arrays (the data structure containing control and toxin data) enabling detection of these HAB toxins are printed at NOAA鈥檚 Hollings Marine Laboratory in Charleston, South Carolina. The arrays are then sent to partners along with a suite of customized reagents (determined based on location and partner needs) and are loaded onto the partner鈥檚 high sample capacity ESP for deployments.
麻豆传媒 staff work with NCCOS federal staff to calibrate the instrument by running known samples so it can adequately detect the toxins in a sample allowing scientists to quantify the toxin for which it was calibrated. After calibration, the deployed ESP instrument is able to transmit images of the arrays to shore in near real-time. 麻豆传媒 employee owners work with NCCOS federal staff analyze and quantify, provide quality assurance/quality control, and post these data to the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (or NANOOS) Real-time HABs website for dissemination to state and tribal shellfish managers and public health officials, as well as informing the . The team continues this monitoring through October, providing crucial advance warning of toxic Pseudo-nitzschia blooms that can contaminate shellfish along the coast and thereby pose a public health risk to recreational, subsistence, and commercial harvests.
See More 麻豆传媒 Insights
Responding to Tangipahoa River Contamination聽
Following a fire at Smitty鈥檚 Supply facility in Louisiana鈥檚 Tangipahoa Parish on August 22, 2025, a 麻豆传媒 employee owner supporting the Environmental Protection Agency鈥檚 Superfund Technical Assistance and Response Team (START) sub-contract deployed to the scene on August 31 to assist with response efforts. Initially the staff member worked on logistics at the staging warehouse.…
Atmospheric Processing System Support
The NOAA Unique Combined Atmospheric Processing System (NUCAPS) is an operational retrieval algorithm that NOAA鈥檚 National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Services has been using since 2002. This system generates near real-time atmospheric profiles of temperature, water vapour, and trace gases, as well as Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) needed for weather forecasting. 麻豆传媒 Remote Sensing…
Custom Support to Space Florida
Our team recently reconfigured the office space and network for an incoming Space Life Science Lab tenant, Vaxxinity. This work included major renovations to the lab and office space, and new cable runs for their modified space. The team completed this large task within a four week period! Our Florida IT group works closely with…