RCMI@Morgan: Center for Urban Health Disparities Research and Innovation

项目摘要：金潮是漂浮的棕色海藻在地球上的大量堆积 马尾藻属，2011年开始影响加勒比海、美洲和非洲海岸。 观察和模型得出的结论是，这些事件主要是由广泛的 气候引起的大西洋富营养化和海面温度变暖 变化。一次金潮可以在每公里的海岸线上搁置多达9.6万立方米的藻类 并影响到大片的海岸线，往往与海岸的位置重合 社区和经常光顾的旅游目的地。可能会导致各种健康危害 直接或间接来自这种藻类生物量的积累，包括增加 溺水，接触海藻垫引起的皮肤刺激，被蚊子叮咬的苍蝇激增 搁浅的藻类生物量，以及藻类分解产生的有害气体。这些 灾害对拉美裔和非洲裔加勒比社区的影响不成比例，代表着 健康差距研究最少的领域之一。这项研究将集中在气体排放上。 通过分解藻类堆积，目的是量化暴露于 在美属维尔京群岛的这些事件中产生的硫化氢。这项研究将使用 结合分解室内实验测量硫化物产气量和 对受影响地区的气体进行现场直接测量。它还将比较两个可用的 用于测量硫化氢的技术，以探索可以采用的更用户友好的技术 由马尾藻清理人员监控潜在风险。

Project summary: Golden tides are massive accumulations of floating brown seaweed in the genus Sargassum that began affecting Caribbean, American, and African coasts in 2011. Observations and models have concluded that these events are mainly driven by widespread eutrophication and warmer sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic resulting from climate change. A single golden tide can strand as much as 96,000 m3 of algae per Km of coastline and affect large expanses of shoreline, often coinciding with the location of coastal communities and highly frequented tourist destinations. Various health hazards may result directly or indirectly from the accumulation of this algal biomass, including increased risk of drowning, skin irritations from contact with algal mats, proliferation of biting flies from beached algal biomass, and the production of harmful gases from algal decomposition. These hazards disproportionately affect Hispanic- and Afro-Caribbean communities, representing one of the least studied areas of health disparities. This research will focus on gas emissions from decomposing algal accumulations, with the aim of quantifying risk of exposure to hydrogen sulfide produced during these events in the US Virgin Islands. The study will use a combination of decomposition chamber experiments to measure sulfide gas production and direct field measurements of the gas in affected areas. It will also compare two available techniques for measuring H2S to explore more user-friendly technologies that can be adopted by Sargassum cleanup crews to monitor potential risks.