Sign of the season via a note from NOAA:
The NOAA Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health (CEGLHH) has just launched the first draft of a "Harmful Algal Bloom Event Response" website:
http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/seagrant/GLWL/Algae/HAB/EventResponse/EventResponseDraft.html
We'll apologize in advance for the somewhat rough appeance of the site - the recent hot weather has caused some blooms to start developing a month ahead of our anticipated web-development timetable. The primary purpose of the website is to quickly make publicly available any harmful algal bloom data discovered in the course of CEGLHH or GLERL research that has potential human health consequences. We've also provided links to a variety of resources (news reports, FAQ sheets, public health contacts, research profiles, etc) and will be adding more as the summer progresses. Please bookmark the main GLERL webpage (http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/) for a link to this site as the above URL is subject to change.
For the amateur microscopists out there, I am also launching an early draft of the Algae section of the Great Lakes Waterlife Photo Gallery http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/seagrant/GLWL/Algae/Algae1.html. Segments on "Dominant Planktonic Algae", "Blue-Green Algae" and "Macroscopic Algae" are complete -- other segments are still 'under construction'. The gallery includes links to a host of web-based information, genus-level profiles, and field-guide style amateur keys, in addition to photos.
For more information contact:
Kanika Suri
CEGLHH
or
Rochelle Sturtevant
Great Lakes Sea Grant Network at GLERL