On last night's weather news, this phenomenon was reported to be influencing the formation of clouds over the target area. That is, NO clouds were forming over the mass of black water--which appears to be expanding when compared to the photo/link below.
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Source: http://www.naplesnews.com/02/03/naples/d742954a.htm
Researchers investigate 'black water' phenomenon
Fishermen first noticed the water in January when spotting pilots went up to see how the kingfish season might play out.
Wednesday, March 20, 2002
By CATHY ZOLLO
MARATHON � Researchers from Mote Marine Laboratory took samples Tuesday of what may be the black water phenomenon reported by Southwest Florida fishermen.
Scientists speculate that the water held together when it was in deeper areas of Florida Bay but began breaking up and dissipating as it reached the shallows off the Keys.
Samples researchers took Tuesday were in water they said was unusually dark.
Robin Smith, left, a biology graduate student, and Susie Arnold, an intern with Mote Marine Laboratory in Summerlin Key, take a sample of dark water Tuesday in Florida Bay that was reported by commercial fishermen. Mote and Florida Marine Research Institute in St. Petersburg will test the sample to find out what is causing the darker-than-normal water. Romain Blanquart/Staff
"Goodness gracious," said Erich Bartels, a biologist with Mote, "seven feet of water and you can't see the bottom."
That was in water that is usually postcard turquoise with clear water in the shallow parts. This was mostly blackish green and pea green at smaller depths.
Fishermen who'd watched the mass of water hold together and move south from off Marco Island toward the Keys said it looked diluted to about 10 percent its original strength. At one point, fish spotter pilots estimated the black water covered at least 40 square miles in Florida Bay.
Scientists, environmentalists and commercial fishermen � groups that are often at odds with each other � agree the phenomenon and its aftereffects deserve aggressive study. Bartels took the samples in Walters Key Basin near the southern end of the Keys on the Gulf of Mexico side and within a mile of shore.
Mote was able to collect the samples because it is funded by the state to test for red tide in waters off the Keys every four weeks, said Erich Mueller, director of Mote's Center for Tropical Research in Summerlin Key. The lab piggybacked the research trip onto a planned trip for the red tide algae. Bartels kept samples of the black water for testing by Mote and sent some overnight to the Florida Marine Research Institute in St. Petersburg for other testing.
He said researchers will look at a number of factors while seeking solutions to the black water mystery, including the amount of dissolved organic material in the water and what organisms populate it.
Scientists should have some results in coming weeks.
Field testing showed the diluted black water had normal salinity, meaning it probably didn't come from a freshwater intrusion into the gulf, and normal amounts of oxygen. Depleted oxygen is one symptom of an algae bloom.
Fishermen first noticed the water in January when spotting pilots went up to see how the kingfish season might play out.
What they found was miles and miles of ink black water and no fish. They said that since that time their traditionally rich fishing grounds have been barren of the game fish usually there.
They think the water might have herded mobile marine life south of the Keys as it tried to get away from the water. They worry about what it did to corals, plants and slow-moving sea creatures that didn't escape.
Fishermen reported that fish venturing into the water acted strangely, jumping and running as if they wanted to get out.
Aside from abundant fishing grounds, the Keys are home to the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The 2,800-square-mile preserve is a breeding ground for large numbers of sea creatures and contains the nation's only barrier reef.
Billy Causey, superintendent of the Sanctuary, said the possible aftereffects of the black water on fish and coral reefs in the sanctuary will bear watching.
Some scientists have speculated that the water was some kind of algae bloom, but Bartels, who was among the first scientists to see samples of the water, said a microscopic look at that early sample showed it wasn't. He couldn't rule out bacteria or any other kind of event that could've triggered the black water.
More:
Source: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/planetearth/black_water_020322.html
Satellite Spots Mystery Patch of Black Water Near Florida
By SPACE.com Staff
posted: 03:20 pm ET
22 March 2002
Scientists are stumped by a strange black mass of water in Florida Bay, clearly seen in a newly released image taken by NASA's SeaWiFS satellite.
The photo was made Feb. 4, at the height of the event. Scientists are not sure if the mass, which has since broken up into patches, was a bloom of algae, a breakout of bacteria or perhaps the result of some other event.
One scientist speculated that perhaps some underwater fountain is spewing black water, according to Thursday's Naples Daily News.
The black stuff was first spotted in January by pilots looking for fish, according to the newspaper. The broken patches now are spread along 126 miles north of the Florida Keys and west of mainland Florida.
Though no dead fish were found, fishermen have reported an abysmal season in the area and unusual behavior in the few fish they did find, the Daily News reported.
The Bradenton Herald also reported, on Wednesday, that fishing was poor in the area and that it was barren of marine life.
"Have we encountered this before? No, not that I know of," Karen Steidinger, a Florida marine biologist, told the Herald. "Something like this, I haven't heard of before."
Meanwhile, researchers have sampled the water in hopes of identifying the source.
Edward ><+>
If you have fifty problems and one of them is government, you have only one problem.
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