In early May 2016, an algae bloom on Florida’s Lake Okeechobee grew to cover 33 square miles.  Nearby farm and residential runoff created conditions that caused the bloom in the lake and have been blamed for impacting water quality downstream to the Atlantic Ocean. The blue-green algae bloom is visible in this image of Lake Okeechobee, acquired on July 2, 2016, by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on the Landsat 8 satellite. The natural-color image combines red light, green light, and coastal aerosol (blue) light (bands 4, 3 and 1). Blue-green algae, also known as cyanobacteria often appears red in most of our aquariums when nutrient levels are too high but no matter the color it’s all cyanobacteria.  Cyanobacteria reproduces rapidly when nutrients like phosphates and nitrogen are abundant in MORE