Development and field application of early warning system for harmful algal blooms (red-tide) early warning using ultrasound wave, Korea

Abstract

The harmful algal blooms (HABs) are affecting the ecosystems, coastal fisheries, and social economics in Korea. In the case of 2013 summer season, massive damage due to HABs (species: Cochlodinium polykrikoides) was reached to $23 million during August, 2013 in Korea. The most important things for minimizing of HABs damage is rapidly detection in initial stage. For this purpose, we have developed a real-time HABs detection system using ultrasound. The integrated system is composed by several sensors (3.5 MHz frequency, temperature and salinity, Chlorophyll, Dissolved oxygen), power supply, network communication, and remote control modules. For evaluating performance of the developed system, several experiments were intensively implemented in the laboratory and in-situ environments during summer seasons, 2013-2016. As a result, both of the performance tests are confirming the acoustic backscattering signal increases with the number of C. polykrikoides. Furthermore, the integrated system shows successfully ...