A Bates professor is part of a four-year, nearly $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation to study harmful algal blooms in lakes caused by cyanobacteria.
Holly Ewing will collaborate with scientists in New Hampshire, Rhode Island and South Carolina to develop technology, including autonomous robots, to help predict the blooms.
“One of the objectives of the grant is to be able to collect these data and analyze them in close to real time,” she said.
Harmful algal blooms can develop quickly, and they pose health risks to people and pets. The grant will help scientists to better understand when and why the blooms become toxic, Ewing said.
“That would allow us to see the spread of a bloom, and predict the spread of a bloom, or forecast the way a bloom might happen,” she said.
Several dogs in southern states died this summer after swimming in water tainted with toxic algae.
This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.