Eyes Over Puget Sound

The Washington State Department of Ecology distributes a monthly report combining high resolution aerial photographs with satellite and ground-truthed monitoring data for Puget Sound surface conditions.

Visit the Eyes Over Puget Sound website

Overview

Once a month, Washington State Department of Ecology marine scientists take to the air to obtain high-resolution aerial photo observations and gather water data at the agency's monitoring stations and via state ferry transects. This provides a visual picture of the health of Puget Sound, which they call Eyes Over Puget Sound or EOPS.

The float plane prepares to take off. Photo by Jeff Rice for the Encyclopedia of Puget Sound.

Related Articles

A Kaleidoscope of colors. Red-brown blooms in South Sound and Quartermaster Harbor, large patches of macro-algae in Central Sound. Latest bloom in Central Sound shows signs of fading as waters begin to clear. Oxygen is beginning to decline.
Summer is here! Surface water temperatures have warmed to 14-15 °C. Widespread algae bloom in Main Basin. Puyallup River discharge is very large. Extensive phytoplankton blooms in Central and South Sound, large patches and strands of macroalgae in South Sound/southern Central Sound.
A particularly great day for the coast flight. Extensive Noctiluca bloom (confirmed by microscopy on 6-21-2011) in Central Basin of Puget Sound, red brown and turquoise blooms in South Sound. Decreasing dissolved oxygen (DO) values at Mukilteo and Manchester mooring stations.
Warmer and sunnier conditions give rise to enhanced oxygen production and algae growth in Whidbey and Central Basin. Clear skies and water from Whidbey Basin has stimulated a large algae blooms. Whidbey Basin water is turbid with abundant dissolved organic matter.
Large blooms in South Sound and Main Basin with abundant macro-algae. Very complex surface water masses that meet at a triple point in Main Basin. Widespread algae bloom in Main Basin; surface water temperatures warmed in the last few days to 13-14 °C. Dissolved oxygen levels remain high.