Lake Okeechobee algae bloom size now covers 40 percent of lake, NOAA satellite image shows

Staff report | TCPalm

Show Caption Hide Caption Progression of Lake Okeechobee algae through June 24, 2018 The algae bloom is taking over Lake Okeechobee. ED KILLER/TCPALM

The Lake Okeechobee algae bloom has increased by 10 percent since Thursday, according to a NOAA-contracted satellite oceanographer.

The bloom covered 40 percent of the open-water area, which is about 220 square miles or 140,800 acres, based on a satellite image taken Sunday, oceanographer Sachi Mishra wrote in a news release issued Monday. That's nearly twice the size of Port St. Lucie.

Previously: Lake Okeechobee algae bloom now 28 percent of open water, NOAA satellite images show

The increase "could be due to calmer winds helping the algae accumulate more near the surface and making them detectable by the satellite," Mishra wrote.

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The lake commonly is considered to be 730 square miles, with between a quarter and a third of that marsh, with tall grasses growing in shallow water.

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Mishra calculates the lake's area as 551 square miles by not including areas covered with marsh vegetation.

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The lake's marsh tends not to have algae blooms, said Paul Gray, Audubon Florida's Lake O expert, because the vegetation sucks up the excess fertilizer runoff that feeds the blooms.

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Mishra works for CSS under contract to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science.