https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2018/08/24/how-scientists-are-tracking-red-tides-with-satellites-and-smartphones/?utm_source=FBPAGE&utm_medium=NASA%20-%20National%20Aeronautics%20and%20Space%20Administration&utm_campaign=NASASocial&linkId=56093224

To get around this problem and make satellites better at pinpointing algal blooms, Hu and colleagues at the University of South Florida have developed a red tide monitoring system that makes use of MODIS observations of fluorescence, which algal bloom emit in response to exposure to sunlight. “If we have fluorescence data to go along with a natural-color image from MODIS, we can say with a high degree of confidence where the algal blooms are and where the sensor is just detecting sediment or CDOM,” he said. When fluorescence data is available, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission pushes it out to the public as part of its red tide status updates (see the August 21 update below).

Likewise, NOAA has combined a fluorescence method with a long-standing technique that identifies recent increases in chlorophyll concentration, the combination improves the identification of likely K. brevis blooms — information that then gets incorporated in NOAA’s HAB Forecast System, noted Richard Stumpf, an oceanographer with NOAA.

Thanks to republican ecological mismanagement the red tide is impacting the politics of Florida, wouldn’t it be funny if a red tide contributed to a blue wave….