A harmful algal bloom is spreading in San Francisco Bay

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The culprit, scientists and public health experts suspect, is a harmful algal bloom caused by a microscopic marine organism, Heterosigma akashiwo, which is known to turn tides red. Read more ⤵️

Early Wednesday morning, Robert Fairbank steered a boat out of San Francisco’s South Beach Harbor under coral-colored skies.

Though the California Department of Health has so far deemed this bloom a “nuisance” and not a direct threat to public health, there is still much uncertainty about the brown bloom’s toxicity, origin and extent. Rosenfield explained that microorganisms like these are always present in the bay, but with the right combination of sunlight, nutrients and tidal and wind conditions, vast blooms can form — sometimes overnight.

Though it’s something of a scientific mystery why harmful algal blooms — or HABs — don’t occur here more often given the nutrient overload, scientists like David Senn of San Francisco Estuary Institute posit that several factors, including wind patterns and tidal exchanges with the Pacific Ocean, keep these bloom-forming abilities at bay.Why now?

“There is a lot of complexity to climate change,” said Keith Bouma-Gregson, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. “We’re adding layer upon layer of factors. It’s not just like, oh, the air got hot; therefore, the water’s hot.

 

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