A real time measurement system for red tide studies

Abstract

An apparently increasing trend of red tide occurrences and/or harmful algal blooms has become a global issue, particularly in coastal zones with 'cultural eutrophication', but no effective measures have been developed yet for detection and early warning, in order to prevent public health problems and the threat of economic losses. A multiple-probe-and-sensor based telemetry system has been developed to monitor water quality parameters, hydrographic variables and meteorological conditions, in order to provide almost real time and continuous data for red tide studies. Several red tides have been detected with the system during the study period and this suggests that it potentially fulfills the purposes of detection and early warning. However, there is still room to improve, upgrade and develop further this prototype system to apply it widely to coastal regions, particularly fish culture zones in which red tides occur frequently and intensively. Real-time telemetric data can provide background information concerning red tide formation conditions, and can be extended to bio-ecological studies so as to enhance our understanding of the interactions between red tides and marine microalgal dynamics, by overcoming the limitations of the traditional approaches.