Human Interaction with Bacteria in the Chesapeake Bay
Michael Reich
College Park Scholars – Science & Global Change Program
Introduction:
I participated in an internship with the
National Oceanic and Atmosphere
Association (NOAA) where I complied
various locations of possible human
contact with certain harmful bacteria in
the Chesapeake Bay.
Environmental Science and Technology
[email protected]; @mike_n_ike2
College Park Scholars Academic Showcase, May 9, 2014
Activities:
-Researched every possible interactions
that humans have wuth the Bay including
fishing, boating, and swimming.
Discussion:
During the process of my internship, I
researched various bacteria that adversly
affect humans like vibrio and sea nettles.
Then with the locations I compiled, I was
able to create a map of all the latitude and
longitude of possible locations where
humans could be infected.
-Compiled the thousands of data points
into excell
-Using ARC Gis create an interactive
mapping system to pin point where
humans can be affected.
Site Information:
Name of Site: NOAA ESSIC Department
Address: 5825 University Research Court
-Uploaded the data to a forecasting
program for viewers to inquire about the
postion of bacteria in relation to their bay
endevors.
Your supervisor: Dr. Christopher Brown
Future Work:
The site mission: Enhance our understanding of
the atomosphere, oceans, land, and the
biosphere and their impact with human activity.
In the future, Dr. Christopher Brown and I
were hoping to launch a system that sends
alerts based on the locations I collected. If
various areas reached a certan level of
bacteria harmful to humans, then that
location’s manager site would receive
warnings to better aid the health of
humans in the bay.
The particular goals of the site you were at:
Creating a better environment for the
Chesapeake Bay region dealing with bacteria,
pollution, and the weather.
Issues Confronting Site:
-Bacteria like vibrio and sea nettles have
been causing infections and even death.
Acknowledgments:
Dr. Christopher Brown –NOAA
Researcher
-There is yet to be a system that can
correctly track the levels of these bacteria
and report back to a data system.
-With people randomly attracting these
infections, there needs to be a monitoring
system in place to notify surrounding areas
of the bay to be very careful.
Dr. Thomas Holtz – Science and Global
Change Director
Impact:
The National Oceianic and Atmosphere
Association already posesses various
forcasting maps for the Chesapeake Bay.
With my data that I collected over the
summer, NOAA can apply these locations
to their forcasting models.
Dr. John Merck – Science and Global
Change Director
Space to
place QR
Code