Creating a weekly Harmful Algal Bloom bulletin

This work received support and funding from • The BOHAB project (Biological Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms off the west coast of Ireland) through the National Development Plan 2000 – 2006 with the support of the Marine Institute and the Marine RTDI (Research, Technology, Development and Innovation) Measure, Productive Sector Operational Programme, Grant-aid Agreement No. ST/02/01. • the ASIMUTH project (Applied simulations and Integrated modelling for the understanding of toxic and harmful algal blooms) through the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) for Research and Technological Development - EC FP7 Programme, Space Theme, Grant Agreement No. 261860 • the MyOcean 2 project through the EC FP7 Programme, Space Theme, Grant Agreement No. 283367 • the AtlantOS project through the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Grant Agreement No. 633211 • The PRIMROSE (Predicting the impact of regional scale events on the aquaculture sector) project, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Atlantic Area Programme, EAPA_182/2016 • The CoCliME (Co-development of climate services for adaptation to changing marine ecosystems) project is part of the European Research Area for Climate Services (ERA4CS), an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by EPA (IE), ANR (FR), BMBF (DE), UEFISCDI (RO), RCN (NO) and FORMAS (SE), with co-funding by the European Union (Grant Agreement No. 690462).
This document describes the procedural steps in creating an information product focused on toxic and harmful phytoplankton. The product is an online Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) bulletin for aquaculturists, who can face serious operational challenges in the days after a HAB event. Data from satellite, numerical hydrodynamic models and In-situ ocean observations are organised and presented into visual information products. These products are enhanced through local expert evaluation and their interpretation is summarised in the bulletin. This document aims to provide both process overviews (the “what” of the Best Practice in producing the bulletins) and detail procedures (the “how” of the Best Practice”) so that the bulletins may be replicated in other geographic regions.
European Commission