Understanding and forecasting the effects of land-sea connections on harmful algal bloom transport in estuaries

Institution: University of Maine
Sponsor: Water Resources Research Institute National Competitive Grants Program (104g)

Research Team:

  • Team Leader: , Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 91福利
  • Sean Smith, School of Earth and Climate Sciences, 91福利
  • , Climate Change Institute, 91福利
  • Kohl Kanwit, Maine Department of Marine Resources
  • , doctoral student, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 91福利

Project Partners:

  • Kate Hubbard, Florida Fish and Wildlife, Woods Hole
  • Gary Shenk, U.S. Geological Survey, Chesapeake Bay Program
  • Thomas Huntington, U.S. Geological Survey, Maine
  • Charles Culbertson, U.S. Geological Survey, Maine
Estuary on the Maine coast. Photo: Archie Corleone, Shutterstock

Project Summary

Shellfish are filter feeders that pump water through their bodies and consume algae they have flltered from the water, some of which can be toxic to humans. The biotoxins found in some algae can accumulate in shellfish, and humans can become sick when they ingest the shellfish meat. The algae reproduce (or 鈥渂loom鈥) when environmental conditions are favorable, creating a Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) event.

The toxic diatom Pseudo-nitzschia is an algae species that produces a biotoxin that causes 听Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning (ASP), with human health effects that can include short-term memory loss, gastrointestinal problems, and even fatality.

ASP has been a documented problem on the U.S. Pacific coast for over a decade, but the first ASP event in the Northeast occurred only recently, in 2016. At the same time there has been unprecedented warming in the Gulf of Maine, where sea surface temperature is increasing faster than in 99% of global oceans and seas. There is not enough historical evidence to make conclusions about specific environmental conditions driving and transporting Pseudo-nitzschia in coastal and estuarine waters of the Gulf of Maine. This makes it difficult for decision-makers to predict bloom events and employ responsive monitoring and management strategies.

Solutions to ASP problems require increased knowledge and understanding of the environmental conditions coinciding with HABs, as well as HAB dynamics. These are gaps that this project targets. The project team鈥檚 approach will focus on the conditions that drive HAB events by analyzing historical data and performing coupled computer simulations to evaluate how water quality, current velocity, wind, freshwater flows from land areas, and tide conditions influence the frequency and magnitude of ASP events in Maine estuaries. The collection of hydrologic and water quality measurements in study areas of Blue Hill and Frenchman Bays will be an important part of this work to document environmental conditions and accurately simulate them, to advance the capacity to predict when and where events may occur.

An important outcome of this work will be a publicly available online forecasting tool that will run continuously updated simulations to provide a 鈥渉indcast鈥 showing past conditions through a 2-3 day forecast of future coastal currents. This will be combined with particle tracking around Blue Hill and Frenchman Bays. The forecasting tool will be collaboratively designed with stakeholders e.g., Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), Acadia Aquafarms, National Park Service, Waukeag Neck Oyster Farm, to provide information most appropriate to their ASP monitoring and management strategies. This research will provide new solutions for prediction of problematic ASP events and more accurate delineations of the locations and duration of related shellfish-harvesting closures by decision-makers.

Project Report

The goal of this project is to document and link coastal water movement patterns with the presence and transport of harmful algae, in particular Pseudo-nitzschia, that can produce domoic acid in shellfish and Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning when ingested by humans. To accomplish this goal, we collected water quality and Pseudo-nitzschia cell data over three summer and fall seasons (2021 鈥 2023) in Frenchman Bay, Maine. Results from these data and our companion computer model reveal the influence of the rugged Maine coastline shape on producing whirlpool-like features, called eddies, that retain suspended materials, including Pseudo-nitzschia cells. The eddies were found to increase mixing of near-surface waters, and when the mixing increased, so did the number of Pseudo-nitzschia cell counts. This implies that Pseudo-nitzschia might reside below the water surface if they are not mixed upward, therefore surface sampling alone might not adequately indicate how much algae are residing just below. Our findings provide incentive to examine current practices of HAB monitoring and management by linking coastline shape to accumulation 鈥榟ot spots鈥 that could influence HAB sampling outcomes. A main product of this study included the creation of a decision support tool to forecast how harmful algae blooms move within Frenchman Bay. The aim of the tool is to provide decision support for targeting algal bloom sampling locations and help shellfish businesses respond to hazardous conditions around Mount Desert Island, Maine. The forecast is publicly available on the Watershed Process and Estuary Sustainability Research Group鈥檚 website and updated daily.

Updates, News, and Related Resources:

Products

Publications

  1. Bailey, Taylor*, Lauren Ross, Sean M.C. Smith. (In-prep). Influence of high-intensity, short-duration rainfall events on material transport in low freshwater input estuaries. To be submitted to Estuaries and Coasts.
  2. Bailey, Taylor*, Lauren Ross, Cristian Rojas*. (In-prep). Linking geomorphological controls to residual flows in low inflow, deglaciated coastal areas. To be submitted to Continental Shelf Research.
  3. Van Dam, B., S.M.C. Smith, Lauren Ross, M. Baker, A.S. Reeve, and K. Beard-Tisdale. (In-prep). Prediction of coastal pollution problems affecting shellfishing with land-sea connection diagnostics. To be submitted to Journal of Geophysical Research: Machine Learning and Computation.
  4. Bailey, Taylor*, Lauren Ross, Nick Tiner*, Sean M.C. Smith, Iv谩n Ernesto P茅rez Santos, Antonio Ramos, Alejandro Garc铆a Mendoza, David Miller. (2024). . Science of the Total Environment, 948(20). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174902
  5. Bailey, Taylor*, Lauren Ross, (2023), Forecast of particle transport in the region surrounding Mount Desert Island, /watershedresearch/research/coastal-pollution-vulnerability/water-quality-and-harmful-algal-blooms/.
  6. Johnson, Grace. . Thesis completed in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maine. May 2024.
  7. Johnson, ,听*,听,听,听,听,听,听,听, and听. (2024). Land鈥揝ea Connection of Microplastic Fiber Pollution in Frenchman Bay, Maine.听Environmental Engineering Science.
  8. Van Dam, Bea, 2023. Scaling up the relevance of land-sea connections in coastal bacteria pollution vulnerability. Dissertation completed in the School of Earth and Climate Sciences, University of Maine. August 2023.
  9. Van Dam, Bea, and Sean M.C. Smith. 2023. Upland micro-topography and remote detection of surface water detention storage in deglaciated landscapes. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms.
  10. Alahmed, Sohaib*, Lauren Ross, Sean M.C. Smith, (2022) Coastal hydrodynamics and timescales in meso-macrotidal estuaries in the Gulf of Maine: a model study. Estuaries and Coasts, doi.org/10.1007/s12237-022-01067-9.
    • Winner of the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) Donald W. Pritchard Award for best physical oceanography paper.
  11. Ross, L. and S.M.C. Smith. 2021. Final Report 鈥 Coastal Maine estuaries (CoMEE) response to freshwater runoff. Maine Water Resources Research Institute, Grant # 2019ME121B.
  12. Smith, S.M.C. and B. Van Dam. 2021. Final Report 鈥 Estuary margin watershed characterization to compare coastal bacteria. Maine Water Resources Research Institute, Grant # 2018ME331B

Presentations

  1. Bailey, Taylor*, Lauren Ross, Cristian Rojas*. Residual Flow in a Deglaciated Coastal Bay with Low Freshwater Input, Physics of Estuaries and Coastal Seas, 24 September 2024, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.
  2. Bailey, Taylor*, Lauren Ross, Sean M.C. Smith, Bea Van Dam, Harmful Algal Blooms in Frenchman Bay: Strategies for Monitoring and Predictions, Maine Fishermen鈥檚 Forum, 29 February 2024, Samoset Resort, Rockport, Maine.
  3. Van Dam, B. and S.M.C. Smith. Diagnostic tool development for assessments of coastal pollution vulnerability, Physics of Estuaries and Coastal Seas, 24 September 2024, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.
  4. Smith, S.M.C., D. Libby, B. Van Dam. Sediment entrainment vulnerability at the confluence of nontidal streams and tidal estuaries. Physics of Estuaries and Coastal Seas, 24 September 2024, University of Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.
  5. Van Dam, B.E. and S.M.C. Smith. Estuary Builder 鈥 a diagnostic tool for coastal vulnerability related to land-sea connections. Geological Society of America, Northeast Section Meeting, 17 March 2024. Manchester, New Hampshire.
  6. Libby, D., S.M.C. Smith, and B. Van Dam. Quantifying the 鈥淧erfect Storm鈥 for sediment entrainment at the confluence of non-tidal streams and tidal estuaries. Maine Sustainability and Water Conference, 28 March 2024. Augusta Civil Center, Augusta, Maine.
  7. Smith, S.M.C. 2023. Seminar presentation 鈥 Coastal and watershed sustainability solutions research in a deglaciated region. 2 November, 2023. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Delaware.
  8. Bailey, Taylor*. Understanding Material Transport around Complex Coastlines for Better Coastal Resilience, 91福利 ASCE Lecture Series, 25 October 2023, University of Maine.
  9. Bailey, Taylor*, Lauren Ross, Sean M.C. Smith, Nick Tiner*, Coastal geomorphology controls circulation and mixing in a complex embayment: Implications for HABs in Frenchman Bay, Maine, Latin American Physics of Estuaries and Coastal Seas (LAPECO), 17 October 2023, Panama City, Panama
  10. Lauren Ross, Linking Coastal Hydrodynamics to Water Quality: Implications for HABs, bacteria and microplastic pollution, San Ignacio de Huinay Field Research Station for Oceanographic Field Instrumentation Course, 28 September 2023.
  11. Bailey, Taylor*, Nick Tiner*, Lauren Ross, Sean M.C. Smith, Investigating Coastal Circulation in a Complex Bay: Implications for Harmful Algal Blooms, Friends of Tauton Bay Meeting, 6 July 2023.
  12. Ross, Lauren, Sohaib Alahmed*, Sean M.C. Smith, Taylor Bailey*, Links between coastal morphometry and hydrodynamic timescales: A case study in Maine estuaries, Gordan Research Conference, 18-22 June 2023, Smithfield, Rhode Island.
  13. Ross, Lauren, Linking Coastal Hydrodynamics to Water Quality with Measurements and Modeling, 91福利 ASCE Lecture Series, 5 April 2023, University of Maine.
  14. Casella, Angeline, Sean M.C. Smith, Taylor Bailey*, Lauren Ross, Bea Van Dam, Kenen Goodwin, The Road to Load Estimation for Frenchman Bay Water Quality Assessments, Maine Sustainability and Water Conference, 30 March 2023, Augusta Civic Center, Maine.
  15. Johnson, Grace, Taylor Bailey*, Dilara Hatinoglu, Sean M.C. Smith, Lauren Ross, Onur Apul, Interpreting the Extent and Characteristics of Microplastics Pollution in Maine Freshwater Streams to Guide a Holistic Mitigation Strategy, Maine Sustainability and Water Conference, 30 March 2023, Augusta Civic Center, Maine. Audience Type: Resource managers, academic
  16. Bailey, Taylor*, Nick Tiner*, Lauren Ross, Sean M.C. Smith, Investigating Coastal Circulation in a Complex Bay: Implications for Harmful Algal Blooms, Maine Sustainability and Water Conference, 30 March 2023, Augusta Civic Center, Maine.
  17. Smith, Sean M.C., Lauren Ross, Taylor Bailey*, Nick Tiner*, Sean Birkel, Linking Coastal Hydrodynamics to HABs with Measurements and Modeling, Gulf of Maine HAB Symposium, 14 March 2023, Virtual.
  18. Ross, Lauren, Sean M.C. Smith, Taylor Bailey*, Nick Tiner*, How understanding land-sea connections can aid shellfish management decision support, Maine Fisherman鈥檚 Forum, 2-4 March 2023, Rockport, Maine.
  19. Bailey, Taylor*, Lauren Ross, Sean Smith, Maeve Dineen*, Hanna Cronin*, Linking Hydrodynamics to Harmful Algal Blooms on the Coast of Maine, Acadia Science Symposium, 19 October 2022, Schoodic Institute, Maine.
  20. Ross, Lauren, Taylor Bailey*, Nick Tiner*, Tom Huntington**, Sean M.C. Smith, Neil Fisher, Sean Birkel, Circulation and Water Quality in Frenchman Bay, Acadia Science Symposium, 19 October 2022, Schoodic Institute, Maine.
  21. Ross, Lauren, Sean M.C. Smith, Taylor Bailey*, Neil Fisher, Nick Tiner*, Monitoring and modeling in Frenchman Bay to understand material transport, Friends of Taunton Bay Lecture Series, 5 October 2022, Sullivan, Maine.
  22. Bailey, Taylor*, Coastal Engineering at the University of Maine, Keynote for Integrated Science Research and Career Exploration (INT 188) Symposium, 11 August 2022, 91福利 Hutchinson Center, Belfast, Maine.
  23. Smith, Sean M.C., Lauren Ross, Bea Van Dam, Taylor Bailey*, Land-sea Connections of Coastal Places, People and Science in Maine, Networking Session for Sustainability Solutions, 22 April 2022, University of Maine, 91福利.
  24. Bailey, Taylor*, Lauren Ross, Sean Smith, Maeve Dineen*, Hanna Cronin*, Linking Hydrodynamics to Harmful Algal Blooms on the Coast of Maine, Networking Session for Sustainability Solutions, 22 April 2022, University of Maine, 91福利.
  25. Bailey, Taylor*, Lauren Ross, Sean Smith, Maeve Dineen*, Hanna Cronin*, Linking Hydrodynamics to Harmful Algal Blooms on the Coast of Maine, Maine Sustainability and Water Conference, 31 March 2022, Augusta Civic Center, Augusta, Maine.
  26. Smith, Sean M.C., Lauren Ross, Bea Van Dam, Taylor Bailey*, Land-sea Connections of Coastal Places, People and Science in Maine, Maine Sustainability and Water Conference, 31 March 2022, Augusta Civic Center, Augusta, Maine.
  27. Cronin, H., S. Smith, and N. Fisher. Starting fresh! Gathering new information on freshwater flow pouring into Maine鈥檚 estuaries. Maine Sustainability and Water Conference. 31 March 2022, Augusta Civic Center, Augusta, Maine
  28. Ross, L. and Smith, S.M.C, The Land Sea Junction: Connecting Coastal Places, People and Science, Ocean Sciences Meeting (OSM), Coastlines and People (CoPe) Session, 28 February 鈥 4 March, 2022, Virtual Meeting. Audience Type: NSF program officers, students, researchers.
  29. Braun, J., B. Van Dam, N. Fisher, and S. Smith. National Water Model Application in Maine Coastal Water Quality Management. Maine Sustainability and Water Conference. 31 March 2021, Augusta Civic Center, Augusta, Maine
  30. Van Dam, B. and S. Smith. Pouring spatial data into shellfishery management decision-making. Maine Sustainability and Water Conference. 31 March 2021, Online 鈥 Virtual.
  31. Goodwin, K., B. Van Dam, J. Braun, and S. Smith. Predicting freshwater inflows to Frenchman Bay. Maine Sustainability and Water Conference. 31 March 2021, Online 鈥 Virtual.

Related Funding

  1. Smith, Sean, Coastal wastewater discharge evaluations using spatial information and machine learning, Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
  2. Smith, Sean, Northeast Water Cycle Center. United States Geological Survey
  3. Golden Undergraduate Professional Development and Experience Fund, 91福利 School of Earth and Climate Sciences. Funds awarded for undergraduate research assistant to collaborate on freshwater flow measurements in the project study area.
  4. Smith, Sean. Supporting Penobscot Indian Nation in Atlantic salmon decision making. NOAA Opportunity # NOAA-NMFS-HCPO-2022-2007193.
  5. Tiner, N.*, Ross, L., Bailey, T.*, Can coastline configuration create accumulation points for harmful algal blooms and microplastics pollution? 91福利 Center for Undergraduate Research (CUGR) Summer Research Fellowship.
  6. Ross, L., Smith, S.M.C., Wilpan, R., Measuring the vital signs of Frenchman and Blue Hill Bays, Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, 20 February 2022.
  7. Estapa, M., Apul, O., Ross, L., Clark, M., Yaparante, S., Durkin, C., Do biological particles scavenge and remove microplastic fibers from the ocean? 91福利 MARINE.
  8. Apul, O., Smith, S.M.C., Ross, L., Noblet, C., Interpreting the extent and characteristics of microplastics pollution in Maine freshwater streams to guide a holistic mitigation strategy, US Department of the Interior Geological Survey (USGS).
  9. Ross, L., Smith, S.M.C., Coastal Resource Management Solutions with Land-Sea Connection Diagnostics, 91福利 Scholarly Materials and Equipment Awards.

Awards/Achievements:

  1. Janet Waldron Doctoral Research Fellowship (AY24-25)鈥 Awarded to Ph.D. candidate and project collaborator, Taylor Bailey, by the University of Maine Graduate School.听
  2. Pritchard Outstanding Physical Oceanography Paper Award (2023) 鈥撎Award Recipients: Sohaib Alahmed*, Lauren Ross, and Sean M.C. Smith, for their publication: Coastal hydrodynamics and timescales in meso-macrotidal estuaries in the Gulf of Maine: a model study.听
  3. Fulbright US Scholar Award (Fall 2023) 鈥 Awarded to Dr. Lauren Ross to travel to Chilean Patagonia to learn how her Chilean colleagues are using interdisciplinary research to understand how hydrodynamics link to Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in Chilean Patagonia estuaries.
  4. Outstanding Mentoring of Students in Sustainability Research (2022) 鈥 Awarded to Ph.D. candidate and project collaborator, Bea Van Dam, by the Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, U Maine
  5. 91福利 College of Engineering Early Career Research Award (2021) 鈥 Awarded to Lauren Ross.

Education/Outreach Activities

  1. Maine Fisherman鈥檚 Forum 鈥 Ph.D. candidate Taylor Bailey gave a presentation on Shellfish Focus Day on February 29, 2024, at the Fisherman鈥檚 Forum in Rockport, Maine.
  2. 91福利 ASCE Lecture Series – Ph.D. candidate Taylor Bailey gave a seminar on her investigations of material transport and water quality in Frenchman Bay to 91福利 Civil Engineering students on October 25, 2023
  3. Estuary Builder Spatial Data Tool Workshop 鈥 A workshop funded by Maine Sea Grant was held by project collaborators, Bea Van Dam and Sean M.C. Smith, for stakeholders interested in uses of spatial data to delineate, analyze, and categorize coastal Maine embayments and their contributing watersheds to determine land-sea connections driving coastal pollution problems. April 4, 2023.听 /watershedresearch/estuarybuilder/听
  4. Friends of Taunton Bay Annual Meeting 鈥 Three poster presentations related to the land-sea connection research were made by Lauren Ross, Sean Smith, Taylor Bailey*, and Grace Johnson. July 6, 2023.
  5. Foundation San Ignacio de Huinay – Lauren Ross, gave a talk on 27 September 2023 at an Oceanographic Instrumentation Course at the Huinay Foundation in Huinay, Chilean Patagonia on her research activities.
  6. Bailey, Taylor*, Understanding Material Transport around Complex Coastlines for Better Coastal Resilience, PEO (Philanthropic Educational Organization) Portland Chapter Meeting, 7 August 2023, Freeport, Maine.
  7. 91福利 ASCE Lecture Series – Lauren Ross gave a talk on her research efforts in Maine estuaries 91福利 Civil Engineering students on 5 April 2023 at the University of Maine.
  8. Maine State Science Olympiad 鈥 Lauren Ross and Ph.D. candidate Taylor Bailey hosted the Green Generation sector of this event in April 2022 and 2023.
  9. Maine Fisherman鈥檚 Forum 鈥 Lauren Ross and Sean M.C. Smith presented a poster on March 4, 2023 at the Fisherman鈥檚 Forum in Rockport, Maine on how their research on land-sea connections can aid shellfish management decision support.
  10. Friends of Taunton Bay Lecture Series 鈥 Lauren Ross gave a talk on 5 October 2022 about her research involving monitoring and modeling in Frenchman Bay and how her team are using these tools to understand material transport. The event was held in Sullivan, Maine.
  11. Keynote presentation for the Integrated Science Research and Career Exploration (INT 188) Symposium 鈥 Ph.D. candidate Taylor Bailey gave a presentation on the coastal engineering related research being conducted by Dr. Lauren Ross鈥檚 research team at 91福利. This event took place at the 91福利 Hutchinson Center on August 11, 2022.
  12. Networking Session for Sustainability Solutions 鈥 Lauren Ross and Sean Smith hosted a poster session at the University of Maine to encourage interdisciplinary discussions and collaborations on topics related to water, environment and sustainability. This event took place on April 22, 2022.
  13. Acadia National Park鈥檚 Intertidal Symposium 鈥 Lauren Ross and Ph.D. candidate Taylor Bailey participated in this workshop on March 3, 2022,
  14. COPRI Lightning Talks 鈥 Ph.D. candidate Taylor Bailey gave a brief synopsis presentation about the project on November 19, 2021, titled “Improving Closure Decisions due to Harmful Algal Blooms”.

Social Media

  1. A library of technical guidance primers, theses, and dissertations has been created in 91福利 Digital Commons by WPES team members to provide a consistent archive of scholarly activities, research products, and technical support guidance for stakeholders related to land-sea connections and coastal pollution. 2023. ().
  2. An online forecast of particle transport in the waterways around Mount Desert Island, Maine has been developed as proxies for material transport (HABs, pollution, etc.). The forecast video, along with a full description of the model and tools involved, is now online in its preliminary state at the following URL: /watershedresearch/research/coastal-pollution-vulnerability/water-quality-and-harmful-algal-blooms/. The website will be widely distributed once remaining operational details have been worked out. It is hosted on the Watershed Process and Estuary Sustainability (WPES) Research Group website (/watershedresearch/). The primary audience will be government resource managers (Maine Department of Marine Resources) as well as shellfish aquaculture farms in the area, however we hope surrounding communities (public) and government agencies (National Park Service) will also be interested.
  3. The Coasts, Oceans, Ports, and Rivers Institute (COPRI) at 91福利 has an Instagram account (@umainecoastal) that has highlighted some of the fieldwork conducted for the project in Frenchman Bay. The account currently has an audience of approximately 120 and includes students and community members. October 8, 2021.

Other Activities

  1. News Center Maine features 91福利 students and researchers in 鈥91福利 scholars return from France with ideas for bettering coastal areas鈥 October 7th, 2024 as a Maine鈥檚 Changing Climate story.
  2. 91福利 Marine Newsletter highlighted Ph.D. candidate Taylor Bailey on September 16, 2024 including an article written by Taylor that described her doctoral research focused on water quality in Frenchman Bay. ()
  3. 91福利 News article describing the microplastic sampling conducted by graduate student Grace Johnson in freshwater streams entering Frenchman Bay and her findings. The article highlighted the publication about this work in the journal Environmental Engineering Science. July 24, 2024. (/news/blog/2024/07/24/waters-along-bar-harbor-acadia-home-to-billions-of-microplastics/).
  4. 91福利 News highlighted 91福利 graduate student, Grace Johnson, and undergraduate research assistant, David Libby, during field sampling for freshwater flows and microplastics in streams draining into Frenchman Bay. August 10, 2023. (/watershedresearch/2023/08/10/u-maine-interviews-wpes-student-research-assistants-sampling-micro-plastics-in-acadia/)
  5. Bangor Daily News article highlighted the roll out of the Estuary Builder coastal spatial data tool developed by project collaborator and PhD candidate, Bea Van Dam. May 7, 2023. ()
  6. Article in 91福利 News 鈥 Ross embarks on Fulbright to expand estuary research beyond U.S. borders (/news/blog/2023/07/18/ross-embarks-on-fulbright-to-expand-estuary-research-beyond-u-s-borders/)
  7. Article in 91福利 News 鈥 91福利 Ph.D. candidate鈥檚 new tool helps predict pollution vulnerability in coastal waters statewide (/news/blog/2023/04/24/umaine-ph-d-candidates-new-tool-helps-predict-pollution-vulnerability-in-coastal-waters-statewide/)