Modeling the influence of environmental factors on human respiratory irritation from natural exposures to Karenia brevis aerosols
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2015-11-11Author
Kirkpatrick, Gary
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Kirkpatrick, Barbara
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Hitchcock, Gary
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Hoagland, Porter
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https://hdl.handle.net/1912/8624Keyword
Florida Red Tide; Harmful algae bloom; HABAbstract
The Coupled Natural and Human Systems program of US National Science Foundation is supporting our effort to elucidate linkages between harmful algal blooms and associated impacts on human health, society and economy of coastal communities. The human respiratory system is negatively impacted by inhaled toxic aerosols from the Florida red tide dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis. It has been hypothesized that surf height, wind speed, and wind direction were the predominant factors determining the amount of toxin reaching exposed individuals. Recent findings indicate that there are more environmental factors influencing the level of respiratory impacts from brevetoxins. We report on analyses that include additional factors such as air temperature, water temperature, dew point, barometric pressure, K. brevis cell counts, annd distance and direction from K. brevis cells to the individual. Factors contributing most to differences between no respiratory irritation and mild respiratory irritation were water temperature, air temperature, and dew point. Those factors contributing most to differences between mild respiratory irritation and moderate respiratory irritation were wind direction, surf conditions, and wind speed. Data on respiratory impacts was provided by the Beach Conditions Reporting System (BCRS). This system provides twice daily reports from lifeguards and park rangers at public beaches. These subjective reports include observed levels of respiratory irritation among beach-goers. Other environmental data were provided by a variety of local sources including private and public weather stations and many monitoring and research efforts. The resultant model provides a means to forecast respiratory impacts from observations of HAB distribution, and meteorological and oceanographic conditions.
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Presented at CERF 2015: Grand Challenges in Coastal & Estuarine Science, Portland, Oregon, November 8 - 12, 2015 and at the Eighth Symposium on Harmful Algae in the U.S., Long Beach, California, November 15 – 19, 2015.
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Presentation: Kirkpatrick, Gary, Kirkpatrick, Barbara, Hitchcock, Gary, Hoagland, Porter, "Modeling the influence of environmental factors on human respiratory irritation from natural exposures to Karenia brevis aerosols", Presented at CERF 2015: Grand Challenges in Coastal & Estuarine Science, Portland, Oregon, November 8 - 12, 2015 and at the Eighth Symposium on Harmful Algae in the U.S., Long Beach, California, November 15 – 19, 2015., https://hdl.handle.net/1912/8624Related items
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CHANS : the characteristics of cost-effective policy responses for harmful algal blooms [poster]
Hoagland, Porter; Kirkpatrick, Barbara; Kirkpatrick, Gary; Hitchcock, Gary; Ullmann, Steven G.; Reich, Andrew; Fleming, Lora E.; Jin, Di; Beet, Andrew R.; Li, Cathy; Garrison, Bruce; Lovko, Vince; Kohler, Kate; Rudge, Katrin (2015-11-11)A growing concern for coastal management is the choice of appropriate public or private responses to HABs as a natural hazard. Considerable efforts have been devoted to understanding the scientific aspects of HABs, ... -
The costs of respiratory illnesses arising from Florida Gulf Coast Karenia brevis blooms
Hoagland, Porter; Jin, Di; Polansky, Lara Y.; Kirkpatrick, Barbara; Kirkpatrick, Gary; Fleming, Lora E.; Reich, Andrew; Watkins, Sharon M.; Ullmann, Steven G.; Backer, Lorraine C. (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 2009-05-01)Algal blooms of Karenia brevis, a harmful marine algae, occur almost annually off the west coast of Florida. At high concentrations, K. brevis blooms can cause harm through the release of potent toxins, known as brevetoxins, ... -
CHANS : Florida red tides and coastal populations as a coupled nature-human system
Hoagland, Porter; Kirkpatrick, Barbara; Kirkpatrick, Gary; Hitchcock, Gary; Kohler, Kate; Lovko, Vince; Ullmann, Steven G.; Reich, Andrew; Fleming, Lora E. (2013-10-28)Coupled nature-human (CNH) systems are now the focus of a growing number of inter-disciplinary research programs worldwide. As implied by the term “coupled,” these systems in-volve interactions between humans and nature, ...