Weather

Tropical Storm Gordon vs. red tide; who won the battle?

From Tampa to Marco Island, red tide has been problematic for southwestern Florida for almost a full year, tampering many summer beach plans and vacations, as well as local tourism and economy. Then came a storm, a developing tropical storm Gordon to mix things up.
The storm’s trajectory resulted in an offshore wind for southwest Florida.
"It helped to keep the effects of the red tide off the beach so moving the surface water and the bloom, or at least the surface part of the bloom a bit off shore. Also, pushing the dead fish and aerosols also away from shore so we haven’t experienced a lot of effects along the shore (in the last couple days)," Dr. Vincent Lovko, staff scientists at MOTE Laboratories.
However, It will just be a temporary respite. Satellite images still show the bloom is still intense, and when the winds change back to more onshore by the weekend, this just may direct the K-Brevis algae, the microorganism responsible for red tide, back toward the shoreline.
Strong winds in general can have complicated effects on red tide. Primarily, they can mix up cooler waters from below, initially diluting concentrations of the harmful algae, but may also mix up nutrient-rich waters from the deep, which could help fuel further growth of these algae blooms.
Heavy rains from tropical systems can also have negative impact, washing nutrient rich waters off of land and into Gulf waters where they can help fuel the algae growth.
 
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