I thought that it was odd that this was occurring in a shallow area (<6"), but there was no real evidence of anything on the bottom, just the floating stuff. Anyway, I got in touch with someone at the NRCS (whose research park is coincidentally here in Lafayette), and this is what he said. (His reply was to a fellow scientist named Kevin, and the "they" he is referring to is we who own the pond...)

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Kevin, it is definitely an algae but I don't have any idea which kind. If it is a problem they can probably treat it like you would any algae, using
algaecides. I doubt it will become a problem because it is so unusual. My guess is that as soon as the water warms up it will fade out. If they are having problems, let me know and I can give them some ideas on what to do.

Ron
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Thanks to everyone who chimed in on this one. I will monitor the situation and repost if something interesting happens along these lines.