Science Inventory

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Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) are a hazard for coastal environments worldwide; identifying screening thresholds of chlorophyll-a (chl-a) associated with increased risk of HABs is a management priority. Molecular surveillance of coastal phytoplankton and bivalve biotoxins ...

The biological community of the Laurentian Great Lakes experiences a complex set of stressors, from physical (e.g., altered thermal-oxygen profiles and flash erosion events), biological (e.g. invasive species and harmful algal blooms) and chemical (e.g., legacy and emerging conta...

The biological community of the Laurentian Great Lakes experiences a complex set of stressors, from physical (e.g., altered thermal-oxygen profiles and flash erosion events), biological (e.g. invasive species and harmful algal blooms) and chemical (e.g., legacy and emerging conta...

Water quality monitoring is integral to preserving the health of freshwater ecosystems, and satellite remote sensing has emerged as one monitoring method. Sentinel-2, in particular, has been valuable for water quality monitoring due to its 5-day global temporal revisit time and s...

Human-driven environmental change has caused harmful algal blooms (HABs) to increase in aquatic ecosystems worldwide, yet our understanding of their impacts on food webs and the fisheries that they support remains incomplete. This information gap is especially conspicuous in Lake...

Cyanobacteria have recently been detected in coastal systems in the U.S., with cyanotoxins measured in shellfish in downstream estuaries at levels of concern for human health. Goal 4 of EPA’s draft Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) Strategy highlights EPA’s critical role in the Advanc...

The Cyanobacteria Assessment Network (CyAN) is a multi-agency, satellite-enabled program that delivers daily, national-scale monitoring, summary metrics, and forecasting of cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) for thousands of U.S. lakes using 300 m Sentinel-3 OLCI obs...

The Cyanobacteria Assessment Network (CyAN) is a multi-agency, satellite-enabled program that delivers daily, national-scale monitoring, summary metrics, and forecasting of cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABs) for thousands of U.S. lakes using 300 m Sentinel-3 OLCI obs...

In Lake Erie, harmful algal blooms have become a recurrent problem during the summer-through-fall growing season. We investigated if the annual disturbance of harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie relates to distinct differences in carbon and nitrogen stable isotope composition (&del...

Compared to the contiguous United States (CONUS), little is currently known about the potential vulnerability of public water systems (PWS) in the State of Alaska to freshwater harmful algal blooms (HABs). A Regional-Office of Research and Development (ORD) Applied Research (ROAR...

Stormwater runoff is a significant contributor of phosphorus (P) loading to waterbodies around the world. Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) that uses filtration media, such as bioretention, can effectively retain suspended solids and associated particulate P, but is commonly ...

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms are widespread, dynamic, and consequential. Traditional field-based monitoring alone cannot provide the spatial and temporal coverage along, and this work examines how integrating satellite observations with in situ sampling and models enables ...

Publicly available cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHAB) forecasts are now available at www.epa.gov/habs/hab-forecasts, offering water quality and public health managers a tool for anticipating cyanoHAB conditions in the largest United States lakes and reservoirs. T...

An update to the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission's Technical Committee on Ohio River HABs research and monitoring that occurred over 2025 will be provided. Progress for the year includes refinement of the 14 day ahead HABs occurrence forecast, revision of scripts us...

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) affect global water quality, limiting uses like recreation and consumption because of excessive algal biomass and toxin production. These blooms cause surface scums, taste and odor issues, hypoxia, and negative health and socioeconomic impacts. The US ...

Lake Erie has been re-experiencing excessive nutrient loading (i.e., eutrophication) during recent decades, the causes and consequences of which remain incomplete (Scavia et al., 2014; Sinclair et al., 2023; Watson et al., 2016). Our general understanding is that increased runoff...

EPA’s cyanoHAB efforts are part of the 2017 Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act, where EPA “shall include research on…freshwater harmful algal blooms; and forecasting…in lakes…and reservoirs.” This Act highlights the nee...

Lake Superior is one of the five Laurentian Great Lakes and the largest lake in the world by surface area. Lake Superior and its surrounding watershed support a wide range of species, provide a wealth of ecosystem services, and support a robust economy, much of which is reliant o...

Excess nitrogen (N) loading to coastal ecosystems impairs estuarine water quality. Land management decisions made within estuarine watersheds have a direct impact on downstream N delivery. Natural features within watersheds can act as landscape sinks for N, such as wetlands, stre...

In 2017, the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act was reauthorized. It placed a clear mandate on EPA: assist communities and States in detecting where and when cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms occur. These blooms pose risk - not just to water quality, but t...

Cyanobacteria can be found in a wide range of water sources, including ponded sources (i.e. lakes and ponds) as well as in rivers and streams where the water flow can vary significantly.  However, it is not well understood how upstream catchments found within in a river syst...

In 2023, Minnesota set a record for experiencing the highest number of air quality alerts in a season (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency). The record-setting alerts originated from smoke plumes driven by Canadian wildfire activity. This led to thousands of people being exposed t...

Muskegon Lake is a drowned river-mouth lake designated by the U.S. EPA in 1987 as a Great Lake Area of Concern. All nine of the lake’s beneficial use impairments have been approved for removal, and the region is awaiting final approval from EPA for official delisting. Altho...

This is a visual depiction of most, if not all, of the published primary EPA research involving antibiotic resistant bacteria (ARBs) and their genes (ARGs) as well as antibiotics associated with antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in wastewater.  The corresponding list of publication ...

Excess nutrients have long been linked to algal blooms, and significant effort has been made to reduce commonly limiting nutrients, i.e. phosphorus.  Despite significant reductions in Phosphorus loading in the Lake Erie watershed, ~40% reduction, harmful algal blooms (HABs) ...