As the weather warms towards the summer, wind patterns and the Earth’s rotation cause an important process called upwelling along the coast of North America, and other continents. Because the Earth rotates on its axis, this causes winds to skew towards the right above the equator and left below the equator, in something known as the Coriolis effect. As a result, the water at the top of the ocean that is hit by these winds can get pushed away from the shoreline. Since the water at the top of the ocean is moving away from the shore, the water from the bottom of the ocean rises up, or upwells, to replace it.

You may ask, why does this matter? It’s all ocean water. Surprisingly, the water at the top and the bottom of the ocean have very important differences! Water at the bottom of the ocean is much colder and much richer in nutrients. When organisms die in the ocean, they tend to sink while decaying, releasing lots of important nutrients into deeper waters. When these nutrient-filled, deeper waters are brought to the surface during upwelling, the result is like adding fertilizer to a garden— there’s an explosion of growth! Adding these new nutrients to coastal ecosystems helps algae, seaweed, plankton, and more to rapidly grow. These are the foundation of many food chains that support dozens of birds, fish, marine mammals, and more. As a result, upwelling causes a huge boost in life of many different sizes and shapes!

Have you ever heard of Sea Monkeys? It would be surprising if you had, given that they sound too good to be true. Then why do they have a national day of celebration, celebrated on the 16th of May? And what are they?

Sea Monkeys are actually toys that were popular in the 60s and 70s, but they were also real-life shrimp that could be “grown” at home! To try and understand this phenomenon, we can go back to their creation. There is a type of shrimp called the Artemia whose existence, in some form, can be traced back to the 10th century. These brine shrimp, like most shrimp, spawn from eggs when introduced to water. However, if you remove the eggs from water, they can stay inactive for many years. These sea monkeys were even taken aboard the spaceships the Apollo 16 and Apollo 17 and spawned in water after being in space! 

The American scientist Harold von Braunhut created and sold the first sea monkeys in 1957. If you were to order a package of sea monkeys at the time, you would be given a couple of packets that were all that you needed to care for these shrimp. One would include a solution for the water you would use to store your sea monkeys that would include salt, water conditioner, and some brine shrimp eggs. After 24 hours you would add the other packet to the water that included yeast, borax, soda, salt, food for the shrimp, and more shrimp eggs. Shortly after that, your shrimp would hatch! Additional packs included yeast and spirulina that would feed your shrimp. 

Though you don’t hear much about them these days, sea monkeys used to be all the rage, and they can still be purchased today! When they were really popular in the 60s and 70s, a lot of people bought them because they were advertised in comic books. They could be bought just like any X-ray specs (that didn’t work), or invisible goldfish (that didn’t exist). So while these sea monkeys brought a lot of joy to many kids at the time, it is important to remember that these were living creatures that were able to be purchased alongside other toys that were forgotten and thrown away. We should treat living creatures with a lot more respect, even if they can be bought and sold in little packets!

On May 16th we celebrate the legacy of sea monkeys; it is a day celebrated and remembered by a lot of adults who might’ve bought the toys back in the day. After reading this, you might even want to go purchase a pack for yourself! Just remember when you are celebrating, or emptying that packet of eggs into water, that these are pets just like any other, deserving of appreciation. 

It has become more and more common in recent years to see the surface of your nearby body of water covered by a sheet of vibrant greens and reds. This layer of sludge may be a harmful algal bloom, or HAB for short. Though they are naturally occurring and usually harmless, toxic algal blooms have grown more prevalent as a result of pollution and climate change. They pose a significant threat to both wildlife and humans. To better avoid their harmful effects, we can learn more about them!  

A harmful algal bloom is a toxin-producing overgrowth of algae that can occur in any body of water.. They come in a variety of colors—bright green, red, turquoise, gold, brown—and appear like clouds, brushstrokes, or splatters of paint on the water’s surface. Algae are aquatic organisms that grow through photosynthesis, like flowers and trees on land. Until reaching a certain size, algae may be invisible to the naked eye. They are a vital primary producer in aquatic ecosystems, serving as food for plankton and fish. Sargassum, a species of brown algae, can form island-sized rafts that create habitats and breeding grounds for turtles, seabirds, crabs, and other animals. Seaweed is a common form of algae. A single-celled form of algae called cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, is an especially frequent type of HAB that mainly threatens freshwaters. These are good examples of what good, and necessary, algae looks like. 

What can make algae harmful to humans and wildlife is a heightened level of nutrients, primarily nitrogen and phosphorus, that reach bodies of water through runoff. Nitrogen and phosphorus, which like algae, are good and necessary in some places, are produced at abnormal rates by cities, developed areas, and factories. When waste or sewage from a city, factory, or farm drains into a nearby lake, river, bay, or ocean, the chance of an HAB significantly increases. Warm bodies of water and humid regions are also at a greater risk of algal blooms due to algae favoring higher temperatures. The Gulf of Mexico, for example, often experiences “red tides” in the late summer and early autumn. These are huge outbreaks of a red algae called Karenia Brevis. Fish are often found entangled in heaps of Karenia Brevis that wash ashore. “Dead zones” are another growing phenomenon resulting from harmful algal blooms. In a “dead zone,” algae grows so much that they consume too much oxygen for fish and other animals to survive, and too much sunlight for plants to grow on the floor below.  

The widespread consequences and increasing frequency of toxic algal blooms have caused scientists to explore methods of prediction in order to reduce exposure. Environmental Sample Processors can continually collect water samples that can then be analyzed in real time, making them one of the main devices used for HAB detection. A team of researchers based in Ohio set standards for judging whether an HAB outbreak would make the water quality of a lake unusable. Their method is designed specifically for lakes, and Lake Erie was used as the model for their study. Because the spread of HABs is so intertwined with polluted runoff, fully preventing them is somewhat difficult. This is why the focus of research has leaned toward harm reduction. Nonetheless, there are steps that you can take to slow down what leads to HABs. Planting trees, creating more rain gardens, and using permeable pavement can all help to stem nitrogen and phosphorus-heavy runoff from reaching waterbodies. And while the issue of harmful algal blooms is increasing, so too is our knowledge about and preparedness for them.