From L: VIMS Ph.D. student Lydia Bienlien works with professors Donglai Gong, BK Song, and Kim Reece to control the drone in flight. (VIMS)

Dr. Donglai Gong, an assistant professor in physical oceanography at VIMS was practicing with his drone over the York River not long ago and noticed some strange streaking colorations in the water. He took pictures and shared them with colleagues at VIMS who quickly identified the colored patches as potential Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs).

Thus began a collaborative effort between Gong and other researchers at VIMS who are investigating HABs. They struck upon the idea of using a drone to guide research vessels to areas where bloom density is highest. From its 400 foot high vantage point, a drone can more easily locate the blooms, saving time and effort by scientists down on the boat. Ultimately, Gong and his colleagues would like to attach a spectral imager to the drone in the hopes of actually being able to differentiate between algal bloom species. But first,  NOAA and NASA satellite scientists will have to develop algorithms that can make that differentiation.

You can read more about this interesting work here.