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Sun and high air temperatures warrant en route ozone measurements for model validations. A furry visitor takes a rest on the float plane. See the spotlight on our pilot, Joe Leatherman. High river flows lead to striking fronts of turquoise-colored water carrying glacial flour in many northeastern regions. Satellite and aerial images show widespread phytoplankton blooms in Whidbey Basin, Hood Canal, South Puget Sound, and West Bay of Orcas Island. Numerous large debris patches are observed in Hood Canal, Central Sound, and South Sound Inlets. After two years of colder temperatures and higher oxygen, Puget Sound waters are returning to expected or lower dissolved oxygen levels.

A 2021 paper in the journal PLoS ONE describes a non-traditional approach to estimating the size of three harbor seal management stocks in the inland waters of Washington using aerial line-transect surveys and tagging data.

This study compared recent and historical data to determine the presence of any significant changes in nutrient and oxygen concentrations subsequent to METRO discharge, examined seasonal cycles in water properties, and examined the flux of nutrients within the study area.

Warm and dry conditions this spring are predicted to persist into summer, resulting in saltier and warmer than normal Puget Sound water conditions. Early upwelling and a premature melt of the snowpack means nutrient-rich ocean water likely already entered Puget Sound. This sets the stage for a lot of biological activity. From the air, it is obvious that the productive season is in full swing. We saw large algae blooms in Central Sound along with abundant Noctiluca.  Huge numbers of anchovies were documented in Case Inlet and other finger inlets in South Sound, attracting hundreds of marine mammals.

Cooler and wetter conditions early in 2017 have set the stage for a favorable supply of freshwater. River flows are all above normal due to melting of the abundant snowpack from warmer May air temperatures. This is creating significantly fresher conditions in Puget Sound surface waters. Algae blooms are limited to some yellow-green blooms growing in bays near the Kitsap Peninsula and blooms near estuaries of the Skagit, Stillaguamish, and Puyallup Rivers. Red blooms are present in rivers feeding into Willapa Bay. Also see what is “blooming” in the sediments of Puget Sound.

A 2019 report from the non-profit group Earth Economics look at revenues and other economic activity resulting from whale watching in San Juan County, Washington.

Learn more about demographics in Mason County, Washington.  The U.S. Census Bureau published the following quick facts.

Food webs are natural interconnections of food chains and depict what-eats-what in an ecological community. While Puget Sound represents a specific food web, the organisms that reside within that web often travel outside the region. In this way, one community's food web can be drastically affected by a change in a neighboring ecosystem.

Learn more about demographics in San Juan County, Washington.  The U.S. Census Bureau published the following quick facts.

This is the first State of the Sound Report. It summarizes much of what is known about the Puget Sound basin—its history, economy, human population, land uses and other factors influencing its water quality.