Streaming Media
Presentation Abstract
Using existing and freely available real-time environmental measurements in the Salish Sea and on the Washington shelf including mooring observations, atmospheric measurements, and river flow measurements, we developed five metrics to help understand and track primary factors contributing to changes in Salish Sea water properties, and, thus, potential ecological changes. These metrics, which include estuarine flow speed, river and rain effect on salinity, water-column oxygen availability, ocean boundary conditions, and heating or cooling of the water by the atmosphere, are intended to inform resource managers, scientists, health officials, and others on how key climate and ocean factors are influencing the present state of the Salish Sea. Climatologies are developed for all metrics to place the current conditions in the context of past observations. A “dashboard” website hosted by NANOOS describes these metrics and presents plots of the metrics that are updated weekly (http://www.nanoos.org/products/ps_metrics/home.php). This project was initially developed as a Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program (PSEMP) project with funding from the Puget Sound Partnership.
Session Title
Climate Science 2: Water
Conference Track
SSE8: Climate Change
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2022 : Online)
Document Type
Event
SSEC Identifier
SSE-traditionals-428
Start Date
27-4-2022 9:45 AM
End Date
27-4-2022 11:15 AM
Rights
Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author's written permission.
Type
Text
Language
English
Tracking Salish Sea Environmental Changes in Real-Time
Using existing and freely available real-time environmental measurements in the Salish Sea and on the Washington shelf including mooring observations, atmospheric measurements, and river flow measurements, we developed five metrics to help understand and track primary factors contributing to changes in Salish Sea water properties, and, thus, potential ecological changes. These metrics, which include estuarine flow speed, river and rain effect on salinity, water-column oxygen availability, ocean boundary conditions, and heating or cooling of the water by the atmosphere, are intended to inform resource managers, scientists, health officials, and others on how key climate and ocean factors are influencing the present state of the Salish Sea. Climatologies are developed for all metrics to place the current conditions in the context of past observations. A “dashboard” website hosted by NANOOS describes these metrics and presents plots of the metrics that are updated weekly (http://www.nanoos.org/products/ps_metrics/home.php). This project was initially developed as a Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program (PSEMP) project with funding from the Puget Sound Partnership.
