General Background

In partnership with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), the Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tides (CPR) at the University of South Florida offers a new Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) tracking tool to help federal, state, and local end users monitor and manage Karenia brevis, red tide blooms on the west coast of Florida. FWC data are uploaded daily into the West Florida Coastal Ocean Model (WFCOM). The model then generates 3.5 day forecasts of the bloom trajectories at a spatial resolution as fine as 150 m in the estuaries and inlets. The WFCOM is a 3-D, density dependent model that downscales from the deep ocean, across the continental shelf and into the estuaries (e.g., Zheng and Weisberg, 2012). The HAB tracking tool displays modeled bloom trajectories at the surface and the bottom subject to data availability. Bloom concentrations are color coded according to FWC's protocols.

ref: Zheng, L. and R.H. Weisberg (2012) Modeling the west Florida coastal ocean by downscaling from the deep ocean, across the continental shelf and into the estuaries, Ocean modeling, 48, 10-29.

Upper Water Column

The "X" represents the starting point where each sample was collected. The lines show the 3.5 day trajectory for each sample. The color represents the red tide concentration for each sample. Black lines represent simulated drifter trajectories.

Lower Water Column

The "X" represents the starting point where each sample was collected. The lines show the 3.5 day trajectory for each sample. The color represents the red tide concentration for each sample. Black lines represent simulated drifter trajectories.

Acknowledgements

The FVCOM HAB tracking tool has benefited from several sources of funding beginning with the FWC and USF. Additional resources from ONR, NOAA and NASA have helped advance the modeling effort over the years.