Researchers studying red tide off the coast of Southwest Florida

Red tide has been detected off Southwest Florida’s coastline. Low concentrations were found off Lee County, with a high concentration off Charlotte’s coast.

From sunrise to sundown, researchers from Florida Gulf Coast University and the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation focus on the water. They want to know how Ian stirred up the Gulf of Mexico.

“We’re collecting water samples and particulate samples to try and better understand the effects of this hurricane on the nearshore Gulf of Mexico. It was such a large event that the effects are seen from Tampa all the way to Naples,” said Eric Milbrandt, director of the SCCF marine lab.

Researchers spent seven days at sea and sampled more than 40 sites using a CTD rosette device.

“The rosette part itself just collects water. The CTD is conductivity, temperature, depth. That’s what the CTD stands for. So there’s some other sensors so it will test for chlorophyll A and some other water quality sensor that are really important for algal blooms to see what’s detected in the water,” said Susannah Cogburn, a marine science student in the Water School at FGCU.

The CDT grabs water from various depths because conditions on the surface aren’t the same as on the seafloor. The visibility in the water even changed from location to location.

Everyone working on the research vessel had a different focus.

“I primarily do a lot of work with harmful algal blooms as well as different types of marine chemistry. So I do a lot of like work with ocean acidification and do a lot of like the actual physical extractions, from our sediment that we get to see if there’s any brevetoxin, which is a toxin produced from red tide,” said Cogburn.

FGCU student Gavin Costello tests for chlorophyll A, an indicator of phytoplankton. The explosive population growth of phytoplankton causes red tides. He measures DNA to confirm its presence and how abundant it is.

RELATED: Scientists studying impacts of Hurricane Ian on sea life in the Gulf of Mexico

Marlin Smith looks at contaminants and pollutants in the water to trace where water is coming from.

“What we’re doing is we’re filtering all of the seawater onto these manganese fibers,” said Smith. Smith also examines sediment.

All of these environmental parameters can be used in predicting future algal blooms.

While all this testing took place on board the Hogarth research vessel in the Gulf, scientists and researchers had to take their samples back to the lab to get more definitive answers.