How Bad is the Bloom? New Indexes Developed to Gauge Severity of Red Tides

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Map Study Area: Southwest Florida (25.4掳-28.4掳N, 82.5掳-83掳N) is shown in relation to the rest of Florida (Inset lower left, red box). Dark gray shaded polygon containing red marks for cell count sample locations, shows the 5 km (3 mile) extent containing Karenia brevis cell counts from 1953 to 2019 used in this study. The white star in Sarasota County indicates the location for the CMAN (meteorological) station VENF1 at Venice Pier. Blue-filled squares mark the eight beach sites in Manatee and Sarasota Counties where respiratory irritation impact was monitored by the BCRS (Beach Conditions Reporting System, Mote Marine Lab).

« How Bad is the Bloom? New Indexes Developed to Gauge Severity of Red Tides

Credit:

Bloom Severity Index for Each Bloom Year: The annual severity index is determined for the bloom year defined as August to the following July and uses the data accumulated from Fig 2B. The annual bloom index was normalized by the largest bloom year so it fell into the scale of 0鈥�10 (0 indicates no bloom; 10 is the largest bloom). Black Xs on the X-axis show bloom years with no available samples. (For 25.4掳 to 28.4掳 N)

« How Bad is the Bloom? New Indexes Developed to Gauge Severity of Red Tides