Cyclone causes algae blooms in Australia
2013-03-06 14:20
Sydney - An algal bloom the size of the southern
Australian island of Tasmania has been stirred up in the wake of tropical
cyclone Rusty, an expert said on Wednesday.
The powerful storm hit Western Australia last week,
bringing torrential rains and wild seas to the major iron ore hub in the
resource-rich Pilbara.
In its wake it has created a massive bloom of algae
produced by the agitation of microscopic plants or phytoplankton, University of
Western Australian oceanographer Charitha Pattiaratchi said.
"Basically it's an algal bloom. It's not
harmful," he said.
"At the moment it's the size of Tasmania," he
said, referring to the Australian island with a mainland area of 64 519km²,
about the size of Latvia or Sri Lanka and a little smaller than Ireland.
Pattiaratchi said tropical cyclones were known to cause
blooms, but this one was unusual in size.
"This one is big," he said, adding that remote-controlled
underwater gliders measuring elements such as water temperature, salinity and
how much phytoplankton was in the water had been operating during the cyclone.
Pattiaratchi said the measurements such as changes in
temperature during a storm could be useful in forecasting the path of tropical
cyclones, particularly for the industry area of the Pilbara.
"The glider gives us an opportunity to collect data
under extreme conditions," he said.
- SAPA
