Oregon Coastal HAB Research

Optical Tagging and tracking of water masses for prediction of human health hazards.

Accomplishments/progress to Date:
Development of new satellite products for monitoring rapid changes in ocean biology. The NOAA CoastWatch west coast node has begun producing maps of ocean productivity that indicate recent trends in phytoplankton abundance. These maps can be used to determine potential locations of new toxic blooms. These blooms can then be targeted for ship-based sampling and the satellite data can be used to track their movements. This provides an early warning system to managers of coastal resources. Maps are available at: http://coastwatch.pfeg.noaa.gov/coastwatch/CWBrowser.jsp
Evaluation of this new satellite product for the detection of blooms. At the 4th Symposium on Harmful Algal Blooms in the US (October 2007), Peter Strutton presented a poster which used several case studies (bloom events) to quantify the efficacy of the new CoastWatch chlorophyll deviation (anomaly) product. The conclusion was that just looking at time series of the bloom product for a geographic region was not particularly informative and could result in many false positives. The product is still probably best used as a tool for identifying blooms that should be targeted for in situ sampling, then tracked by satellite, incorporating surface current forecasts.
Retrospective analysis of Oregon Dept of Agriculture shellfish toxin data in conjunction with oceanographic data. Jacqui Tweddle (Postdoc at OSU) has analyzed satellite physical and biological data to determine the relationships between the seasonal cycles of upwelling, blooms and toxins at the coast. See Figures 1 and 2. These results are being synthesized in a manuscript, for submission in July 2008.
Routine monitoring for toxins in the coastal ocean. Sampling for domoic acid happens frequently throughout the summer, mostly in the central Oregon region. During summer 2007 we obtained several hundred samples from Florence to Cascade Head at weekly frequency from approximately April through October. 2008 sampling has started, and will continue until late October.
Targeted microscopic analysis of primary HAB forming species from archived samples collected at station NH05 since 1998 is now complete. Seasonal detrending and statistical analysis of this decadal time-series is underway and will provide vital information relating basin-scale climatic and oceanographic factors such as El Nino and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation to an observed increase in both frequency and duration of HAB events along the central Oregon coast.
Cell counts of Pseudo-nitzschia and Alexandrium, and toxin levels in shellfish continue to be supplied by the Oregon Dept of Fish and Wildlife and Oregon Dept of Agriculture, respectively. This sampling will be used to identify areas where phytoplankton toxins are repeatedly found, and we have related these findings to the ocean circulation of the region. This knowledge can be used to optimize shellfish sampling for the protection of human health. Results from this sampling are disseminated by the web on the sites for the sampling agencies:
www.oregon.gov/ODA/FSD/shellfish_status.shtml#Biotoxin_results_of_interest
www.dfw.state.or.us/MRP/shellfish/razorclams/plankton.asp
and in a centralized location with satellite data for context at:
www.coas.oregonstate.edu/habs
ODFW hired a Phytoplankton sampling coordinator (Zach Forster) to assist in the planning and analyzing of the samples and a part-time seasonal (Jim Heinrich) to collect water samples on the southern coast of Oregon. The number of samples sites has increased from 5 to 12 and the sample frequency has increased to weekly from bi-weekly. With the hiring of the Phytoplankton Sampling Coordinator, training, workshop and collaborative opportunities have increased. These include a University of Washington Sound Toxin phytoplankton identification and enumeration training workshop in February, attending the Northwest Algal Symposium in April, participating in an Oregon State University cruise aboard the R/V Elahka to collect routine samples off of Cascade Head and Newport, collecting samples for culture of Pseudo-nitzschia for the Marine Biotoxin Group of the Northwest Fisheries Science Center (NMFS), and participating in a NOAA cruise aboard the R/V McArthur collecting CTD, ELISA and microscopy work in the hunt for harmful algal blooms. A further sampling protocol has been added to several of our 2008 cruises, to investigate the distribution of Alexandrium cysts (resting stage cells) within the sediment of central Oregon, using corers.
Michelle Wood and Allison Poole (UO) have visited Vera Trainer’s Seattle Lab twice to become trained in domoic acid analysis. They are in the process of developing this capability at UO – a major advance for Oregon HAB work.
Allison Poole, a University of Oregon graduate student has started working on research associated with project. A postdoc, Jacqueline Tweddle, has been working with the project and is making progress on satellite-based analyses of the oceanography of Oregon HAB events.

 

Publicity for the project:
Salem Statesman Journal
Environmental Health Perspectives
OSU's Research Highlights Magazine, Terra
Articles also appeared in the Newport News Times, the OSU and UO student papers, the Oregonian, Eugene TV and radio.

 

Anticipated Products and Major Findings: Our goal is to develop a greater understanding of when, where and why toxic phytoplankton blooms occur off the Oregon coast. By relating this increased understanding to satellite imagery, and in collaboration with NOAA CoastWatch, we will develop satellite data products that will be used by coastal managers to reduce human exposure to toxins. Specifically, satellite-based warnings of HABs could be used by the Dept of Agriculture to more efficiently sample coastal shellfish beds.

Figure 1: The relationship between ENSO conditions and HAB events. In this figure, the frequency of saxitoxin concentrations in excess of 40 ug / 100 g shellfish tissue (the closure level) in a given year is plotted as a function of the southern oscillation index for that year. Saxitoxin (PSP) events are observed approximately three times more often in El Niño years than in La Niña years.

Figure 2: Summary of the ocean physics/upwelling/blooms analysis currently underway. From top to bottom, plots are Oceanic SST: Yearly cycle of warmer summer and cooler winter temperatures in all regions; Coastal SST: Warmer summer temperatures are ‘dampened’ in summer, due to upwelling. Dampening increases to the south; Coastal SST - oceanic SST: removes the latitudinal gradients and seasonal cycles in heating and cooling. Values below zero indicate upwelled waters dominate the coastal region. Values more highly negative to the south; Coastal northward wind speed: In summer stronger southerly winds blow for longer towards the south Oregon coast; Coastal Upwelling: Stronger upwelling coincides with southerly winds, and cooler coastal SST. Upwelling is stronger to the south. (From NOAA Environmental Research Division); Oceanic Chl: Yearly cycle of low summer surface concentrations and slightly higher winter concentrations in all regions; Coastal Chl: Higher concentrations seen in summer, maximum concentrations decrease to the south. Peak concentrations occur earlier to the south.

Other Links
A powerpoint presentation from the Charleston OHHI PI meeting, January 2006
An animation to accompany that presentation
Notes on the animation: The left panel shows an animation of SeaWiFS chlorophyll for 1998. The right panel shows domoic acid at Clatsop (Columbia River outflow) in red and an upwelling index in black. Toxin data above the red line indicate closure levels of domoic acid in shellfish. Upwelling data above the black line indicate upwelling conditions, and upwelling data below the black line indicate downwelling conditions. The animation shows the development of the spring/summer bloom during 1998 - as it develops it intensifies and is advected further offshore by upwelling-favorable winds. When winds switch to downwelling, the bloom (presumably containing Pseudo-nitzschia) collapses to the coast and we see a spike in domoic acid in shellfish.