Emily Lau, Author at Southern California Coastal Water Research Project

Articles by: Emily Lau

Street sweeping is a stormwater management strategy commonly used to prevent pollutants from entering storm drain systems. The Southern California Stormwater Monitoring Coalition (SMC) has developed a novel method for measuring the role that street sweeping plays in improving runoff water quality.

Method developed to measure street sweeping’s effectiveness

in Stormwater BMPs, Top News, Trash Pollution Comments are Disabled

SCCWRP and its partners have developed a novel method for quantifying the effectiveness of routine street sweeping in removing contaminants that would otherwise enter storm drains and contribute to runoff … More

A rescue crew prepares to transport a sea lion stranded on the beach as a result of domoic acid poisoning to a rehabilitation center for treatment. SCCWRP and its partners are working to expand and formalize how Southern California monitors toxin-producing harmful algal blooms (HABs) that can sicken and kill sea lions and other marine mammals. (Courtesy of Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute / Note: Rescue activities conducted under a stranding agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

Effort launched to expand, formalize HABs monitoring in coastal waters

in Eutrophication, Harmful Algal Blooms, Regional Monitoring, Top News Comments are Disabled

SCCWRP and its partners are launching an effort to expand and formalize Southern California’s capacity to collect monitoring data on toxin-producing harmful algal blooms (HABs) in coastal waters – an … More

SCCWRP’s Jerod Grey uses a syringe to collect a sample from a set of flow-through columns that mimic how runoff flows through a biofiltration BMP. Following the successful completion of the laboratory-scale experiments, researchers have begun working to model the mechanistic inner processes by which biofiltration BMPs remove pollutants from runoff.

Modeling phase launched in effort to open ‘black box’ of BMP mechanistic processes

in Emerging Contaminants, Runoff Water Quality, Southern California Stormwater Monitoring Coalition, Stormwater BMPs, Top News Comments are Disabled

SCCWRP and its partners have begun working to model the mechanistic inner processes by which a ubiquitous class of stormwater BMPs known as biofiltration systems removes pollutants from runoff – … More

A nudibranch nestles in an eelgrass bed in Newport Bay. The Southern California Bight 2023 Regional Monitoring Program has completed field sampling for a first-of-its-kind survey evaluating the health of the region’s eelgrass beds based on their ecological functioning.

Bight ’23 regional survey assessing ecological health of eelgrass beds for first time

in Bioassessment, Regional Monitoring, Southern California Bight Regional Monitoring Program, Top News Comments are Disabled

The Southern California Bight 2023 Regional Monitoring Program has completed field sampling for a first-of-its-kind multiagency survey evaluating the health of the region’s eelgrass beds based on their ecological functioning … More

Trainings completed to support release of tools for assessing stream flow duration

in Ecohydrology Comments are Disabled

SCCWRP and its partners have completed a pair of field trainings to support the upcoming release of final versions of stream flow classification tools designed to help watershed managers determine … More

L.A. River named first ecohydrology demo site in the U.S. by UNESCO

in Ecohydrology Comments are Disabled

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recognized a SCCWRP-led flow ecology study in the Los Angeles River as one of the world’s 51 ecohydrology demonstration sites … More

Modeling runs probe relative influence of U.S. vs. Mexican nutrient discharges on coastal algal blooms, OAH

in Climate Change, Eutrophication, Harmful Algal Blooms, Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Comments are Disabled

A research team that has been modeling how land-based nutrient discharges into Southern California Bight coastal waters influence algal blooms and ocean acidification and hypoxia (OAH) has completed a set … More

Best practices developed to advance use of satellite imagery for inland HABs monitoring

in Eutrophication, Harmful Algal Blooms Comments are Disabled

SCCWRP and its partners have developed best-practices guidance for using satellite imagery data as a routine management tool to detect and monitor harmful algal blooms (HABs) in California’s large lakes … More

Lab experiments completed for study examining multi-stressor effects of changing ocean conditions on Dungeness crab

in Climate Change, Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Comments are Disabled

SCCWRP and its partners have finished a set of laboratory experiments evaluating how Dungeness crab are affected by the combined effects of low dissolved oxygen levels, ocean acidification and warming … More

Effort launched to standardize, streamline coastal habitat mapping in California

in Climate Change Comments are Disabled

SCCWRP and its partners have launched a one-year effort to standardize and streamline how coastal habitats get mapped in California – a traditionally time-consuming, piecemeal task that can lead to … More