The UK Space Agency has announced funding for a project to monitor harmful blooms in Northern Ireland waters, from the skies. The project aims to predict future outbreaks of harmful blooms and will also include the monitoring of seaweed production. The announcement was made at Space-Comm Expo in London.
The UK Space Agency has announced funding for a project to monitor harmful blooms in Northern Ireland waters, from the skies. When Lough Neagh was overcome with blue-green algae last summer, a satellite image from Europe's Copernicus Open Access Hub showed just how bad the situation had become. Now NI Space is getting a share of £500,000 carved out to improve the delivery of government services using space assets and data in the hope it can predict future outbreaks.
The project was announced at Space-Comm Expo in London on Thursday. It will also include the monitoring of seaweed production. NI SPACE cluster manager, Robert Hill, said: "NI Space welcomes this announcement regarding £500k funding for six projects, one of which includes NI Space working with Space Wales and Space East to leverage Earth observation capabilities to monitor Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) and Seaweed production
UK Space Agency Project Monitor Harmful Blooms Northern Ireland Waters Skies Lough Neagh Blue-Green Algae Satellite Image Copernicus Open Access Hub NI Space Funding Government Services Space Assets Data Predict Outbreaks Seaweed Production Space-Comm Expo Announcement