algae/ukl2008/dms-smell.html
link to haze.html
Observations from Aug 21, 2008
With Kim Biafora
Three differnent smells:
putrid/decaying
fresh grass/meadow
hint of the cooked-corn smell that might indicate DMS
birds - gulls of some kind seem to concentrate in some areas. In two of these areas (off Skillet Handle and by Bennett Point, we smelled a hint of "cooked-corn".
Just north of Buck Island, noticed the putrid smell and the water was brown and colonies were small and looked unhealthy.
moved into high algae
N. Howard Bay, brown water with putrid smell
| location | algae/water | smell | birds |
| between Hanks and Buck | diffuse, unhealthy/brown | putrid | no |
| off Squaw Point | medium density | ? | yes |
| N. Howard Bay | diffuse, unhealthy/brown | putrid | no |
| N of Skillet Handle | dense | fresh grass | no |
| just E of Skillet Handle | medium? | corn | yes |
| near Bennet Point | brown water | no smell | no |
| closer to shore Bennet Point | ? | corn | yes |
These observations reinforce the idea that there may be a link betwen birds, cooked-corn smell, and down stream of a dense bloom.
The hypothesis is that rapidly growing colonies have a "fresh grass" smell but then (in time and space) when the bloom maxes out, the nitrogen metabolism becomes limiting and the cells start making DMS. This senescent bloom attracts the daphnia, small fish and sea-birds. Down stream from this area is a decaying algae zone that has a putrid smell.