"When scores of dead and dying sea animals began washing up on L.A.-area beaches just weeks after January's devastating fires, the timing seemed suspicious. Harmful algae blooms had sickened marine life in each of the three years prior. But the especially high number of animal deaths this year prompted several research teams to investigate whether runoff from the fires may have accelerated algae growth to particularly dangerous proportions."
"Some of the fire retardants have nutrients in them, like ammonia or phosphate, that can fuel the growth of phytoplankton and the growth of organisms in the ocean. And we do see some spikes in those nutrients early on, immediately post-fire, said Noelle Held, a University of Southern California microbiologist and oceanographer who has tested ocean water along L.A.'s coastline regularly since January."
An upwelling event brought cold, nutrient-rich deep water to the surface, supplying nitrogen and phosphorus that fueled a widespread harmful algae bloom from Baja to Bodega Bay. The bloom represented the fourth consecutive year of outbreaks in Southern California and coincided with large numbers of dead and dying marine animals washing ashore. Fire-related runoff and spikes in nutrients from some fire retardants were detected briefly after the January fires, but those increases were far smaller than the nutrient influx from the upwelling. Multiple research teams concluded the bloom’s severity was largely driven by natural ocean processes rather than the fires.
Read at www.latimes.com
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