Cyanobacteria Assessment Network (CyAN)

Submitted by atripp on

Cyanobacterial blooms are a global concern because they pose a threat to human and aquatic ecosystem health and cause economic damage. Cyanobacteria can produce toxins potent enough to adversely affect the health of humans, pets, livestock, and wildlife. The USGS is collaborating with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) on the Cyanobacteria Assessment Network (CyAN) project. The overarching goal of this collaborative effort is to detect and quantify potentially toxic cyanobacterial blooms using satellite data records in order to support the environmental management and public use of lakes and reservoirs throughout the Nation. Data from ocean color instruments on board multiple satellite platforms including Landsat, Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS), and Sentinel-3 are being used to create a protocol for early identification of cyanobacterial blooms in freshwater systems. The protocol will provide early-warning indicators of cyanobacterial bloom development at the local scale while maintaining continuous national coverage. A mobile application, available on the Android platform, has been delivered to the public communicating cyanobacteria bloom status on large reservoirs across the country, and a web application is being beta tested. The CyAN Field Exploratory Lakes Database (FIELD) Tool is a stand-alone, open-source code application for serving up water quality data for the Nation focused on characterizing the uncertainty of satellite-derived products using field and laboratory data and automated quality assurance. It automatically calculates trophic status and health threshold exceedances due to cyanotoxin presence. National remote sensing archives will be publicly delivered in fiscal year 2021. CyAN has met the NASA application readiness level 9, and information from this project is currently being used by several States to identify cyanobacteria blooms and strategically deploy staff for verification.  The results will support decision-making for public health protection balanced against socioeconomic needs.

https://www.epa.gov/water-research/cyanobacteria-assessment-network-cyan

https://www.epa.gov/water-research/cyanobacteria-assessment-network-mobile-application-cyan-app

https://code.usgs.gov/water/stats/cyan-database

 

Author Name
Keith Loftin
Author Email
kloftin@usgs.gov