Eyes Over Puget Sound - Aerial photos from April 23, 2012

By Sandy Howard, communication manager, Environmental Assessment Program

Algae blooms and impressive surface accumulations are showing up now in Puget Sound. See them for yourself in the latest installment of the Department of Ecology’s “Eyes Over Puget Sound.” Surface conditions from April 23, 2012, are now available online at: http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/mar_wat/eops/

The pdf document is 5 MB, upload times may vary. The pdf document has clickable navigation links.

Ecology's Marine Monitoring Unit conducts a variety of marine observations, including monthly sampling at 40 core monitoring stations. We use a floatplane to efficiently cover our widely distributed station network. We take these photos of Puget Sound water conditions during a routine transit flight between the Kenmore base and Olympia.

“Eyes Over Puget Sound” is the result, and an example of how we are optimizing our resources to monitor Puget Sound. “Eyes Over Puget Sound” combines high-resolution photo observations with satellite images, en route ferry data between Seattle and Victoria BC, and measurements from our moored instruments.

Find out more about marine algae blooms on Ecology's website. Sometimes algae blooms can look like spilled paint, oil or sewage. Find out more about how to report an environmental problem.

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