NANOOS Lightfish Completes First Offshore HABs Mission

NANOOS and partners have started using a combination of new technologies to improve the frequency and coverage of offshore HAB observations in the Pacific Northwest and better inform public health officials and marine resource managers of HAB risk. We are pleased to announce the first successful operational mission of the SeaSats Lightfish, a solar-charged autonomous surface vehicle, augmented with a water sampling system designed and built by APL-UW. In late July, the Lightfish covered a 60-mile trackline out of Newport, OR, collecting 15 water samples near Heceta Head and rapidly returning them to a shore-side lab. Samples were analyzed at the OSU Hatfield lab for plankton abundance, species composition and levels of domoic acid, the HAB toxin that causes amnesic shellfish poisoning. This work is possible by funding from both the IOOS Ocean Technology Transition Program and NANOOS HAB-ON program.

Read the Article View the Data