Widespread global increase in intense lake phytoplankton blooms since the 1980s

Jeff C. Ho (), Anna M. Michalak () and Nima Pahlevan
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Jeff C. Ho: Carnegie Institution for Science
Anna M. Michalak: Carnegie Institution for Science
Nima Pahlevan: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Nature, 2019, vol. 574, issue 7780, 667-670

Abstract: Abstract Freshwater blooms of phytoplankton affect public health and ecosystem services globally1,2. Harmful effects of such blooms occur when the intensity of a bloom is too high, or when toxin-producing phytoplankton species are present. Freshwater blooms result in economic losses of more than US$4 billion annually in the United States alone, primarily from harm to aquatic food production, recreation and tourism, and drinking-water supplies3. Studies that document bloom conditions in lakes have either focused only on individual or regional subsets of lakes4–6, or have been limited by a lack of long-term observations7–9. Here we use three decades of high-resolution Landsat 5 satellite imagery to investigate long-term trends in intense summertime near-surface phytoplankton blooms for 71 large lakes globally. We find that peak summertime bloom intensity has increased in most (68 per cent) of the lakes studied, revealing a global exacerbation of bloom conditions. Lakes that have experienced a significant (P

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1648-7

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