Characterising temporal and spatial characteristics and environmental drivers of Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in Lough Neagh by mining satellite imager

In recent years, Lough Neagh, has been subject to a series of harmful algal blooms, with an unprecedented cyanobacteria (Microcystis species) bloom in 2023.

With protected wildfowl populations, Europe's largest commercial eel fishery, endangered species and host to numerous businesses, Lough Neagh is ecologically and economically important.

Remote-sensing using satellite imagery and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) will provide a means by which to characterise and describe the temporal frequency and amplitude of the harmful algal blooms as well as their spatial structuring allowing the drivers of such events to be determined.

Using a range of multiresolution datasets a time-series of images of Lough Neagh from the start of the satellite era (ca. 1970s) to present will be constructed.

This is with a view to characterise seasonal fluctuations and annual planktonic cycles, analyse potential drivers of such events and characterise the spatial structure of the 2023 bloom.

This project will demonstrate the value of remote-sensing to determine the drivers, and therefore potential solutions, to harmful algal blooms with Lough Neagh acting as a strategically important case study of the wider global problem.