Algae makes monitoring business bloom.

• Author: McKinley, Karen

Discovery Air Fire Services utilizing new technology to spot blue-green algae from the air, changing name to MAG Aerospace Canada

Every summer blue-green algae blooms are a common sight in lakes, but some of those are a big enough health hazard they can shut down beaches and threaten water supplies.

To combat this, one company in Sudbury, Discovery Air Fire Services, is using a system of infrared cameras and sensors to identify and track blooms.

This technology is proving so useful the federal and provincial governments are backing it with large sums of funding, and the company has partnered with the Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) to help track and study it.

This move means Discovery Air Fire Services will be known as MAG Aerospace Canada as they offering what MAG is known for --collecting data and interpreting data, as well as offering their previous services in fire monitoring.

"It made sense for us to use this technology because we are already in the air guiding bombers and monitoring the forest, and we have extensive knowledge of the region's lakes," said Greg Ross, chair of environmental and health surveillance at Discovery Air, a professor at NOSM, and an environmental researcher. "We know these blooms are going to be a bigger health concern with climate change and as more phosphates (from fertilizers and waste systems) are dumped in the water."

He explained blue-green algae is a hybrid of a plant and a bacteria, as it feeds off sunlight and heat for energy. It is naturally-occuring, but the blooms are becoming more frequent.

The problems happen when blooms grow so large they release high amounts of toxins into the water, causing everything from skin rashes in humans and animals, to mass fish kills, posing serious risks to the environment.

"There is some evidence that these toxins could cause serious neo-degenerative diseases," he said. "Those could take 20 years or more to develop, but we know enough about these toxins we shouldn't be exposed to them and we shouldn't consume them."

The sensors will help monitor blooms and warn the public where they are happening, so they can avoid swimming and drinking the water.

Discovery Air is utilizing a series of sensors, which Ross explained are spread out between two aircraft. One has an electronic optics and infrared sensor mounted on a plane wing that swivels 360 degrees, while another plane has a hyperspectral sensor housed in what is known as a belly pod of another plane.

Ross...