This article was taken from the April 2015 issue of WIRED magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
What looks like paint spreading through water is actually an algal bloom, made up of tiny blue-green phytoplankton, swirling by the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, off Alaska's coast. Small blooms can sustain ocean life, but if they're toxic or out of control, they can have a negative impact. The big problem: a global rise in harmful super-blooms. In 2013, toxic red algae blooms killed more than 200 of Florida's endangered manatees. Another bloom in early 2014 contributed to a record number of seals and sea lions being taken into rehabilitation centres in California. "We've seen more toxic outbreaks, and we're concerned climate change is involved," says David Caron, a biological oceanographer based at the University of Southern California.These poisonous blooms create dead zones in places such as the Gulf of Mexico or Lake Erie, and can be traced back directly to humans: agricultural run-off, pollution and sewage flush the ocean with nutrients that artificially breed algae.
Without algal blooms, ocean life would crumble. But the challenge lies in monitoring the more extreme examples. "The frequency is ramping up, and we really need to get a handle on it," says Caron.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
