Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID NJ_2023_JIN

Assessing spatiotemporal variations and driving forces of harmful algal blooms in New Jersey lakes using remote sensing and artificial intelligence

Institute: New Jersey
Year Established: 2023 Start Date: 2023-09-01 End Date: 2024-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $19,090 Total Non-Federal Funds: $20,966

Principal Investigators: Huiran Jin

Project Summary: Harmful algal blooms, or HABs, occur when certain types of algae grow out of control, posing threats to water quality, aquatic and human health, and environmental safety. In recent years, there has been an increased number of HAB outbreaks in the lakes across New Jersey, also creating a significant financial risk by threatening local tourism, reducing real estate values and demanding costly infrastructure maintenance, rehabilitation and improvements. To make matters worse, extreme climatic events are expected to increase in the future and alongside increase the frequency and intensity of HABs. Knowledge of the spatiotemporal variations and driving forces of HABs is therefore in urgent need to inform research and management efforts aimed at reducing impacts of HABs and promoting viable solutions and economic development over the long term. To achieve this goal, this demonstration project proposes to develop the necessary technological capabilities for improved monitoring of HABs and understanding of environmental factors contributing to HAB outbreaks. More specific activities are: 1) identification and processing of publicly available satellite data acquired by Landsat and Sentinel constellations, 2) development of state-of-the-art machine learning and deep learning algorithms to automatically identify HABs on these images, 3) assessment of relationships between HABs and several environmental factors such as sunlight, rainfall, wind and water temperature. Expected results include time-series maps of HAB extent and severity across NJ lakes on a monthly basis of 2021–2023, along with validated approaches that can potentially assist in long-term, routine monitoring of HABs throughout the entire state and elsewhere.