Publications by authors named "Erin A Urquhart"

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms are the most common form of harmful algal blooms in freshwater systems throughout the world. However, sampling of cyanobacteria in inland lakes is limited both spatially and temporally. Satellite data has proven to be an effective tool to monitor cyanobacteria in freshwater lakes across the United States.

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Monitoring lake biophysical water quality is a global challenge. Satellite remote sensing offers a technology for continuous water quality information in data poor regions throughout the United States. Quality assurance flag data are provided for the presence of snow/ice, land-adjacency, and unresolvable waterbodies supporting water quality derived measures from Envisat MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer and Sentinel-3 Ocean and Land Colour Instrument for the continental United States.

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Seafood-borne illness is a global public health issue facing resource managers and the seafood industry. The recent increase in shellfish-borne illnesses in the Northeast United States has resulted in the application of intensive management practices based on a limited understanding of when and where risks are present. We aim to determine the contribution of factors that affect concentrations in oysters () using ten years of surveillance data for environmental and climate conditions in the Great Bay Estuary of New Hampshire from 2007 to 2016.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHAB) pose significant risks to human and ecological health, causing issues like fish kills and water quality problems in lakes globally.
  • Satellite technology, specifically the European Space Agency's MERIS and upcoming Sentinel-1-3 OLCI, was evaluated for its effectiveness in detecting cyanoHAB occurrences in lakes across the U.S.
  • The study found that satellite imagery could resolve about 5.6% of the waterbodies and 57% of public water surface intake locations, highlighting areas like Lake Apopka and Grand Lake St. Marys with high bloom frequencies that exceed World Health Organization safety thresholds.
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Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHAB) cause human and ecological health problems in lakes worldwide. The timely distribution of satellite-derived cyanoHAB data is necessary for adaptive water quality management and for targeted deployment of water quality monitoring resources. Software platforms that permit timely, useful, and cost-effective delivery of information from satellites are required to help managers respond to cyanoHABs.

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Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHAB) are thought to be increasing globally over the past few decades, but relatively little quantitative information is available about the spatial extent of blooms. Satellite remote sensing provides a potential technology for identifying cyanoHABs in multiple water bodies and across geo-political boundaries. An assessment method was developed using MEdium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) imagery to quantify cyanoHAB surface area extent, transferable to different spatial areas, in Florida, Ohio, and California for the test period of 2008 to 2012.

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Reports from state health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that the annual number of reported human vibriosis cases in New England has increased in the past decade. Concurrently, there has been a shift in both the spatial distribution and seasonal detection of Vibrio spp. throughout the region based on limited monitoring data.

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The effect that climate change and variability will have on waterborne bacteria is a topic of increasing concern for coastal ecosystems, including the Chesapeake Bay. Surface water temperature trends in the Bay indicate a warming pattern of roughly 0.3-0.

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