Using continuous monitors to expand awareness of algae in ecosystems

Water quality conditions in many regions are evolving over time and so, too, are the technologies that are used to measure these changes. Historically, algae concentration data has been collected manually from a site and processed in the laboratory. Today, continuous water quality monitoring allows for an expanded temporal view of that same site. Multiparameter platforms have sensors available for the measurement of algae and some of the parameters of interest that drive or are affected by blooms. Algae-specific sensor technologies include fluorescence-based sensors designed to monitor chlorophyll-a, phycocyanin, and phycoerythrin. Continuous relative fluorescence measurements from these sensors can be correlated to concentrations based on the relationship between continuous and discrete data. By using these sensor technologies and telemetering data to a cloud-based data hosting platform, real-time data-driven decisions have been made intelligently and in a cost-effective manner across entire lake systems.