The purple edge surrounds an automated laboratory that will analyze seawater for harmful algal species and toxin. Researchers deployed the tool about 13 miles off Washington’s coast.
Stephanie Moore / NOAA
The purple edge surrounds an automated laboratory that will analyze seawater for harmful algal species and toxin. Researchers deployed the tool about 13 miles off Washington’s coast.

Scientists with the University of Washington and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration deployed a new tool this week that will constantly be on the lookout for harmful algal blooms and their toxins off the coast of La Push, Washington.

The Environmental Sample Processor, or ESP, was deployed May 23 for the first time off the Pacific Northwest coast with sensors to monitor specific algal species and a harmful toxin they emit, domoic acid. The tool will provide autonomous, near-real-time measurements of the amount of toxin and the concentrations of six potentially harmful algal species.

John Mickett, an oceanographer at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory, led the deployment of the new instrument with Stephanie Moore, a scientist at NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center, as part of a larger collaborative project.

Read more at UW Today »