Florida Red Tide Solutions

Is it another wink and nod recognition for my work on Florida red tide? The work that helped get the Federal grant money to study the effects of rainwater on red tide blooms, may have been why they have decided to put the new enter to develop models to forecast Florida red tides at the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science in St. Petersburg, right down the way from my offices.

Probably not. It probably has to do with the fact that FWRI has a big research center in the same neighborhood, even closer to the USF campus than me. It’s easier to share resources that way (and easier to spread undue influence too - if that something they want to do, AHEM).

Some details of the deal:

1. A five-year, $1.25 million contract from the state’s Fish and Wildlife Research Institute will help finance the center. USF is matching the state’s contribution with a $400,000 computer cluster and staff support.
2. The goal of the center is to create a routine capability to predict red tides - NOT one of the things that was supposed to be studied with the grant money
3. will combine information from FWRI’s existing red tide monitoring program, satellite imagery and data from USF about water circulation, temperature and salinity.