Red Tide that bad??? (Miami, Everglades: natural gas, best, teacher)

[craigiri]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

As I have been saying for months...this too shall pass:

Red Tide Loosens Its Grip on The Suncoast

Tomorow (Wednesday Dec 19th) we'll get a weekly update, but things are improving rapidly now.

Funny guy....of course it will pass. But I'll bet you didn't predict it would last a year (that's the official number)....or be among the worst in the memory of people living down here.

It is definitely on the wane from what I can see - although I am somewhat avoiding the bayfront and beach. But at this point I'd say most people planning vacations should be OK (or at least as OK as past year) from this point forward.

Anything can happen by my assumption is that the epidemic ran its course for now....

As far as when the full "life" comes back to Bay and Gulf, I'll report here or in another thread. I've been here enough years and given my hobby of photography I know what types of birds and fish, etc. should be out in force.

We've been here 10 days and are 1 mile inland from the Bay. The most I have felt is slightly watery eyes and our windows have been open since we've been here. Perfect weather, IMHO (not for beach goers, but for those who do all kinds of things!).

[beach43ofus]

You are 100% correct..I didn't see it lasting over a year. I'm sure Mote Marine's scientists didn't either. I didn't see it impact SE FLA either. This was a terrible bout.

As this becomes a distant memory, I hope Floridians and our politicians will not forget it, and will continue to attack anything that might be making it worse...runoff, septic, fertilizers, ect.. Anything we can do to minimize must get done.

[WRnative]

Gone??? Or is the current red tide bloom just moderating, and not totally disappearing, with the prospect of another intensification when the oceans again begin to warm in the spring?

https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/ha...ml?region=swfl

https://www.bradenton.com/news/local...222709655.html

An issue is whether a virulent red tide and other toxic algal blooms return as the oceans warm again in 2019. If severe blooms do return, it will suggest that ocean warming due to man-made climate change has made these blooms an annual seasonal, at a minimum, event.

There are some obvious questions about the empirical data being released about the recent red tide bloom.

1) How do the toxin levels recorded in the current red tide event compare with those recorded in past blooms? I remember reading one researcher stating that he had never before seen such high levels of red tide toxins as in the current bloom at its height several months ago. Isn't there a database anywhere that maintains historical toxin level readings off the entire southwest Florida coast? If there is such a public database, why isn't it open to the public?

2) The ocean floor off southwest Florida likely is covered with decaying organic matter. How badly has this impacted marine oxygen levels? Does a oxygen-deficient "dead zone" exist anywhere off southwest Florida?

The state of Florida's commitment to red tide research perhaps is indicated by the lack of funding for the Collaboration for Prediction of Red Tide at the Univ. of Southern Florida. The following article indicates that monitoring is inadequate, which limits the empirical data base that would allow scientists to better understand red tide.

https://www.bradenton.com/news/local...222709655.html

Robert Weisberg, a physical oceanography professor at the Univ. of South Florida College of Marine Science, is interviewed in the above article.

In an ABC News story from August, Weisberg also is interviewed. His explanation of red tide blooms places a heavy emphasis on ocean circulation, a theory that I haven't before seen discussed in this thread. He believes that when deep ocean water, heavy laden with nutrients, is carried into shallower water (where the red tide originates in Gulf waters 10 to 40 miles off the Florida coast?), the nutrients allow faster-growing, non-toxic algae to out grow the red tide organism preventing blooms from developing.

Weisberg suggests that red tide blooms originate when water is warmer from late summer to early fall. When the red tide nears shore, the bloom can be aggravated by nutrients in those waters, according to Weisberg.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/toxic-red-...ry?id=56965754

It's possible that recent Florida administrations have had no interest in allowing the creation of a database that could allow the correlation of the severity of red tide blooms with higher man-made nutrient levels offshore Florida. Florida also may not want persons to know how warming oceans influence the frequency and severity of red tide blooms, as continued warming of the oceans seems inevitable until mankind transitions away from fossil fuel consumption.

See "How will harmful microorganisms be affected by ocean warming?" in this University of Florida research paper.

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/sg136

[WRnative]

Here's another article that suggests that the state of Florida has little interest in the development of an ocean monitoring system in Karenia brevis breeding areas to predict the likelihood and severity of a red tide bloom in advance.

USF Marine Scientists Helping Lead Red Tide Monitoring and Mitigation Efforts - University of South Florida

Obviously such a reliable forecasting system might prevent tourists from planning vacations to southwest Florida if a severe red tide was in the forecast.

This article says that a protracted upwelling currently is moving the red tide bloom away from shore (and its man-made nutrients?). The following article says red tide cells flourish in water temperatures between 60 and 86 degrees. Does this mean that water temperatures warmer than 86 degrees suppress red tide blooms?

https://www.heraldtribune.com/news/2...rasota-manatee

[beach43ofus]

The effects of Red Tide are almost entirely gone. Even the patches that remain offshore are breaking up. The end-of-times gloom 'n doomers were crushed again...by a girl!...well, not just any girl, but by Mother Nature...as I predicted.

Oh, and here's some more great news from America's #1 leading state on the natural environment:

Florida raises estimate for the state

There are Thousands more Manatees now than earlier thought. As many as 4,000 more! Wow, great news indeed.

No place else I'd rather be. Another spectacular Sunrise this morning (Wednesday Dec 19th) too. I can't wait to get to the beach later today after it reaches 72 Sunny degrees. I am SO glad I dont live in Ohio anymore.

[beach43ofus]

For us in SW Florida, we are highly atuned to our environment because this areas weather & natural beauty are key reasons we moved here. Add a nasty 1+ year bout of Red Tide to our sensitivities, and we are all wore a bit thin by now, so it's great news that the Red Tide is dissapating.

When you look beyond our shores however, the picture is very different. Natonally, the environment ranks low as compared to other areas of concern...

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article...em-immigration

The environment shot up from only 2% concerned to 5% concerned in just 1 month. I'm guessing the California Fire, and our Red Tide making national news caused this bump. Now that the Red Tide is diminshing, and California's in recovery mode, I'm guessing it will drop back down to the 2% level very soon, and return to a niche issue again.

The vast majority of Americans don't think much about the environment...until something goes wrong in their own backyards.

[gypsychic]

I haven't been affected by red tide for many months now; and I live two blocks from Sarasota Bay. I also attend outdoor events on the bayfront and have dined at the Beach House on the Gulf - no smells, no issues, and everything looking pretty normal as far as birds etc. I have lived in Sarasota/Manatee for over 25 years now, this is the only year I was aware of it being a problem, with strong smell and lasting so long.

I think some with water eyes etc are having issues from something else, the power of suggestion is strong.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

Oh, and here's some more great news from America's #1 leading state on the natural environment:

Florida raises estimate for the state

According to the article, the survey indicating an increased manatee population was from 2015-2016, well before the recent, severe red tide bloom. Is this new information? If so, why did the state wait so long to release this information? Or is it just a another piece of CYA propaganda by Florida's man-made climate change science denier administration?

The article discusses the jump in documented manatee deaths in 2018, but many dead manatee may be lying on the ocean floor.

[WRnative]

Originally Posted by beach43ofus

For us in SW Florida, we are highly atuned to our environment because this areas weather & natural beauty are key reasons we moved here. Add a nasty 1+ year bout of Red Tide to our sensitivities, and we are all wore a bit thin by now, so it's great news that the Red Tide is dissapating.

When you look beyond our shores however, the picture is very different. Natonally, the environment ranks low as compared to other areas of concern...

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article...em-immigration

The environment shot up from only 2% concerned to 5% concerned in just 1 month. I'm guessing the California Fire, and our Red Tide making national news caused this bump. Now that the Red Tide is diminshing, and California's in recovery mode, I'm guessing it will drop back down to the 2% level very soon, and return to a niche issue again.

The vast majority of Americans don't think much about the environment...until something goes wrong in their own backyards.

With the federal government and Florida's state government in control of man-made climate change deniers, Americans and Floridians are NOT being told the truth about the myriad impacts and threats to our environment, as documented by scientists, caused by the continued burning of fossil fuels.

Despite this reality, about 2/3s of Americans now want action on climate change.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/17/amer...tion-poll.html

Any non-denier Floridian open to the empirical data and the warnings of scientists based on the empirical data, should be demanding policy changes to transition mankind away from fossil fuel consumption.

This is patently obvious in southern Florida when three of the region's leading newspapers support "The Invading Sea Project," which features a sub-head on its website: "Can South Florida Be Saved?"

https://www.theinvadingsea.com/

[beach43ofus]

Florida is #1 on the natural environment, so the politicians here past, & present, must have been doing something right. The new Florida Power & Light updates made to the Port Everglades plant will distance FLA even more from the rest of the states. Florida produces 99% less fossil fuels than your home state of Ohio, and consumes less per capita too.

WRnative's home state of Ohio ranks 47th on the environment! You got some splain'n to do WR. Ohio's killing us all.

Secondly, the U.S. has improved its carbon footprint, while China and India are killing Earth w/ their old outdated coal burning factory's that pump out Black soot from their smoke stacks so bad that residents sometimes have to wear breathing masks.

WR, you're like a school teacher is who recommending a tutor the best student in the class while the rest of the class is flunking out of school. Your efforts are wildly misdirected.