Eops 2016 09_26

Surface Conditions Report, September 26, 2016
Eyes Over Puget Sound
Field log Climate Water column Aerial photos Continuous monitoring Streams
Publication No. 16-03-077
Up-to-date observations of water quality conditions in Puget Sound and coastal bays
Start here
Scuba info
Critter of the Month– The Sweet Potato Sea Cucumber

Dr. Christopher
Krembs (Editor)
Personalimpressions p. 4
September is jellyfish season!
Climateinfluences p. 6
Sunny, warm,and dry conditions withlow river flows.
Watercolumn p. 7
Lower oxygenwasobservedinsouthernPuget Sound in August.
Water in coastal bays was saltier due to lack of rain.
Aerialphotography p. 11
Large jellyfishaggregations inSouth Sound. Red-brownand
green-brownblooms were widespreadinmany bays across
Puget Sound andthe San JuanIslands. Incontrast,Central Sound
had clear water withlittle algal activity.
Continuous monitoring p. 35
Algal concentrations are decreasingacross Central Basinwith
some short-termgrowthinmid-September.
Streams p. 37
InAugust, many streams had slipped back to below-normal
flows. Precipitationevents inSeptember improvedPuget Sound
streamflows.
LONG-TERMMARINEMONITORINGUNIT
Skip Albertson
Julia Bos
Suzan Pool
Editorial assistanceprovided by: Suzan Pool, CarolMaloy
Marine conditionsfrom 9-26-2016at a glance
Jim
Shedd
JuliaSuzan
Mattie Michalek

Critter of the Month – The Sweet Potato Sea Cucumber
Personal Field Impression
Field log Weather Water column Aerial photos Continuous monitoring Streams
Eyes Under Puget Sound 9-26-2016
Learn more about Molpadiaand othercritters on Ecology’s EcoConnect blog here.
Angela Eagleston& Dany Burgess
Marine Sediment Monitoring Team
Fun Facts!
• Their skeleton is composed of
tiny particles called ossicles.
• They eat upside down with
their faces buried in the mud.
• They are smooth and shiny
because they lack tube feet.
Molpadiaintermedia
This critter sounds like a vegetable
and looks a bit like a breakfast
sausage, butthe structures in its skin
make it special! Find out what
makes this plump mud-dweller an
important partof Puget Sound
benthic communities.

Personal Field Impression
Field log Weather Water column Aerial photos Continuous monitoring Streams
Personal Field Impression 9-26-2016
Our WCC intern, Mattie Michalek, presented a projecton the large jellyfish
masses wehave been seeing in Budd Inlet. Mattie analyzed photos frommonthly
EOPS flights over the last 6 years. Sheassigned jellyfish images to 5 categories to
indicate how abundantthe jellyfish mass aggregations (smacks) were.
Mattie presented her study
results at the 2016 South Sound
Science Symposium: “Do
salinity and temperaturein
Budd Inlet drivejellyfish mass
aggregations?”
September is jellyfish season in South Sound!
Jellyfish biomass reached
record levels in Budd Inlet
and other finger inlets of
South PugetSound in the
fall of 2014 and summer of
2015, coinciding with ‘the
Blob’ of unusually warm
water and with the drought.
Budd Inlet 2014
View poster

This isa newfeatureandwearesolicitingfeedback (salb461@ecy.wa.gov).
Eventuallywewill featurethemostrecentdata.
good poor
visibility
Find depths with high and low visibility
• Best visibility wasabout35 feet or more
around SeacrestPark in Elliott Bay.
• Poor visibility occurred in many places of
Puget Sound within the first10 feet of the
surface.
• In August, visibility took a downturn
perhaps in responseto abundantsunshine
and resultantplanktonic blooms.
• Elliott Bay decreased visibility from42 ft to
36 ft since July.
• We usetransmissometer readings fromour
CTD packageand convertthem into
horizontalvisibility.
What was the visibility in the water for divers?
Personal Field ImpressionThe divers' page, visibility 9-26-2016
Field log Weather Water column Aerial photos Continuous monitoring StreamsField log Climate Water column Aerial photos Continuous monitoring Streams
August

Climate Influences leading to 9-26-2016
Climate and naturalinfluences,includingweather,rivers,and the adjacent ocean,can
affect our marine waters. Graphics are basedonprovisional dataandare subject to
change. http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/mar_wat/weather.html,page 26.
August Summary:
Air temperatures wereslightly
abovenormal.
Precipitationwas below
normal.
Sunshine levels werehigher.
River flows werestill below
normal, particularly to the
north (Nisqually River is
regulated).
Upwelling, ENSO, and PDO are
abovenormal.
higher No datalowerexpected
*UpwellingAnomalies (PFEL)
PDO = PacificDecadal Oscillation
NPGO = North Pacific GyreOscillation
ENSO = El Niño Southern Oscillation
Field log Weather Water column Aerial photos Continuous monitoring StreamsField log Climate Water column Aerial photos Continuous monitoring Streams

We usea boatand
a chartered float plane
equipped with a CTD
package
to access our monthly
monitoring stations.
We communicate data
and environmental
marine conditions using:
1. Marine Water
Condition Index
(MWCI)
2. Eyes OverPuget
Sound (EOPS)
3. Anomaliesand
sourcedata
Ourlong-termmarinemonitoringstationsinWashington
Starthere
Isl.
.
Station network of abmient
water quality monitoring stations

HowwellisPugetSoundexchangingitswater?
Year 2016 continues to have record-breakingglobal temperatures. Inour region,the Fraser River flow has plummeted.
Estuarine circulationis important because water temperatures inPuget Sound are still warmer thannormal! The Fraser
River is the largest freshwater source for the SalishSea,significantly affectinganddriving estuarine circulation.
Inwinter andspring 2016, the Fraser
River and other rivers dischargedprematurely. This
year’s Fraser River summer flow has been extremely
low in response to warmwinter temperatures and
lack of snowpack inBC. Very low summer flows
inhibit the renewal of water inPuget Sound. The
flow is now normalizing.
Source: http://wateroffice.ec.gc.ca/index_e.html
Very low Fraser River flow this
summer meant stagnant
water inthe Salish Sea and
reducedexchange with
coastal water.
As a consequence,water
warmedandpollution hada
chance to accumulate.
Credit: Christopher Krembs
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
Dec-13
Jan-14
Feb-14
Mar-14
Apr-14
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Jun-14
Jul-14
Aug-14
Sep-14
Oct-14
Nov-14
Dec-14
Jan-15
Feb-15
Mar-15
Apr-15
May-15
Jun-15
Jul-15
Aug-15
Sep-15
Oct-15
Nov-15
Dec-15
Jan-16
Feb-16
Mar-16
Apr-16
May-16
Jun-16
Jul-16
Aug-16
Sep-16
Discharge(m3s-1)
Higher than normal
Lower than normal
Expected
Fraser RiverFlow

Physical conditionstracked in historicalcontext
Explore profiles
at all stations
Temperature Normalizing Oxygen lowerSalinity higher
Region
7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Whidbey Basin
Hood Canal
Central Sound
South Sound
Grays Harbor
Willapa Bay
North Sound
San Juan
2015 2015 201620152016 2016
After nearly 2 years of record-breakingwater temperatures,Puget Soundtemperatures andsalinity are not
quite to expectedranges inAugust. Lower oxygenconditions continue insouthernPuget Sound. At the
coast,salinity is higher due to very low river flows (see page 37).

a) PacificDecadalOscillationIndex(PDO,temperature) (explanation)
b) UpwellingIndex(anomalies)(Upwelling,low oxygen) (explanation)
c) NorthPacificGyreOscillationIndex(NPGO, productivity) (explanation)
Theoceanaffectswaterquality: OceanClimateIndices
NPGO(x10)
PDO/UpwellingIndex
Three-year running average of PDO, Upwelling, and NPGO indices scores
.
Ocean boundaryconditions long-term variability: (a)water is still warm (PDO), (b) upwellingoflow
oxygen and high nutrient ocean water are normal (UpwellingIndex anomaly),and (c) surface productivity
alongthe coast is normalizing(NPGO).
-25
-20
-15
-10
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

Summary: Aerial photography9-26-2016
Large jellyfishaggregations were infinger Inlets of SouthSound. Red-brownandgreen-brownblooms
were widespreadin many bays across Puget Soundand aroundthe San JuanIslands. Incontrast,
Central Soundhad clear water withlower algal activity.
Start here
Mixing and Fronts:
Many and large tidal eddies outlined by blooms of different
colors.
Debris:
Largeorganic debris rafts in Budd and Case Inlets and
Nisqually Reach.
Visible blooms:
Strong red-brown blooms in South Sound and in Sinclair,
Liberty, and Samish Bays. Brown-green blooms seen around
tidal eddies. In Totten, Eld, and Dyes Inlets.
Jellyfish:
Very numerous in Budd, Eld, and Totten Inlets. Not seen in
other inlets.
BloomDebrisFront Suspendedsediment:
Near shoresuspended sediments mostly due to strong tidal
activity. Some regional river input of suspended sediment.
Plume
Blooms in Budd Inletwithstrikingintensity
SinclairInletwith red-brownbloom
Bloom
Bloom
jellyfish jellyfish

Strait of
Juan de Fuca
San Juan Islands
Padilla Bay
Main Basin
Hood Canal
South Sound
Whidbey Basin
Sunny, very good visibility
Flight Information:
Aerial photography
and navigation guide
Flight route
9
3
2
8
Tide data(Seattle):
Time Height (ft) High/Low
01:29 AM 9.13 H
08:02 AM 0.75 L
03:29 PM 10.94 H
09:27 PM 4.55 L
6
11
14
41
Observation Maps:
Central and NorthSound
South Sound
15
12
13
7
5
18
19
20
16
10
17

Strong red-brown bloom, jellyfishpatches, and organic debris at surface.
Location: Near Big Tykle Cove,Budd Inlet (South Sound),12:28 PM.
1 Aerial photography 9-26-2016 Navigate
boat
Bloom
Bloom
jellyfish jellyfish
Debris
boat
boat
boat

Two differently colored red-brown blooms and abundant jellyfishpatches.
Location: Across Butler Cove, Budd Inlet (South Sound),12:31 PM.
Bloom
jellyfish
jellyfish
jellyfish
jellyfish
jellyfish
jellyfish
jellyfish
2 NavigateAerial photography 9-26-2016
jellyfish
jellyfish
boat
marker
jellyfish
Bloom
boat
boat
jellyfish
jellyfish

Bloom
boat
Strong red-brown bloom and abundant jellyfishpatches. Tidal eddy.
Location: YoungCove, Eld Inlet (South Sound),12:35 PM.
eddy
jellyfish
jellyfish
jellyfish jellyfish
jellyfish
boat
jellyfish
jellyfish
jellyfish
Bloom
jellyfish

A. B.
4 Navigate
Aerial photography 9-26-2016
A. Red-brown and green blooms around tidal eddy during incoming tide. B. Large patch of organic debris.
Location: A. Eld Inlet,B. Budd Inlet (South Sound),12:37 PM.
Bloom
boat
Debris
Bloom
Debris
boat
Debris
eddy

A.
Tidal currents and eddies with different colored blooms (green and red-brown) during incoming tide.
Location: A. Carlyon Beach,Totten Inlet,B. Hope Island (South Sound),12:39 PM.
Bloom
Bloom
B. Bloom
eddy
eddyBloom

Strong red-brown bloom and abundant jellyfishpatches.
Location: Henderson Bayand BurleyLagoon, Carr Inlet (South Sound),12:49 PM.
Bloom
suspendedsediment
Debris
mussel raft
boat
powerline
Burley
Lagoon

Tidal currents and eddies with different colored blooms (green and red-brown) during incoming tide.
Location: Dyes Inlet (Central Sound),12:57 PM.
Bloom
boat
Bloom
Debris
eddy
boat

Red-brown bloom in shallow embayment near Keyport.
Location: Keyport,entrance to Liberty Bay (Central Sound),1:00 PM.
boat
Debris
Bloom

Large tidal eddy and water with different colored blooms.
Location: LibertyBay (Central Sound), 1:01 PM.
Bloom
Bloomv
Bloom
eddy

Red-brown bloom with adjacent river plume.
Location: LibertyBay (Central Sound),1:02 PM.
boat
Plume
Bloom
Bloom

NavigateAerial photography 9-26-2016
Red-brown bloom and flood tide settingoff eddy. River plume with suspended sediment on easternshore.
Location: Port Gamble (Hood Canal),1:06 PM.
11
barge
barge
Bloom
eddy
mussel raft
Plume
boat

B.A.
A. Red-brown bloom and suspended sediment next to Samish Island. B. Ship slowed by tug reveals that
bloom is only at surface. Location: Samish Bay(North Sound),1:31 PM.
12
suspendedsediment
tug
ship
Bloom
suspendedsediment
Bloom
clear
suspendedsediment
Bloom
SamishIsland

Jet from Samish Bay flowing north alongside Lummi Island. Fraser River plume/bloom and front.
Location: Lummi Island,Rosario Strait (North Sound),1:36 PM.
13
Plume
Lummi Island

Fraser River plume/bloom meetingflood tide which causes turbulent mixing.
Location: Rosario Strait (North Sound),1:39 PM.
14
Plume
Cypress Island

Fraser River plume/bloom mixing into eddy in Lopez Sound.
Location: Mud Bay,Lopez Sound (North Sound),1:47 PM.
15
eddy
Plume

Red-brown bloom and suspended sediment.
Location: Mud Bay,Lopez Sound (North Sound),1:47 PM.
16
boat
Bloom
suspendedsediment

B.
A.
Strong red-brown fillingDiscovery Bay and extendingto the bay entrance.
Location: A. West Side, B. East Side Discovery Bay (North Sound), 2:01 PM.
17
Bloom
Bloom
boat
Bloom
Beckett Point
Diamond Point

Greenand red-brown blooms show how patchy blooms can be.
Location: Quartermaster Harbor (Central Sound), 2:30 PM.
18
boat
Bloom
boat
Bloom
Bloom
suspendedsediment

B.A.
Green-brown bloom leaving Carr Inlet in a meandering ribbon betweenMcNeil and Fox Islands.
Location: Carr Inlet (South Sound),2:39 PM.
19
Bloom
Bloom
Fox Island
McNeil Island

B.A.
A. Large organic debris patch and B. Plume/bloom trapped in Oro Bay.
Location: AndersonIsland (South Sound),2:43 PM.
20
Debris
Debris
NisquallyDelta
NisquallyDelta
Plume
Debris

North Sound Central Sound
Numbers on map refer to picture numbers for spatial reference
Date: 9-26-2016
Qualitative aerial observer map during transit Navigate
17
18
16
15
8
9
7
10
11
12
14
13
Port Gamble

Date: 9-26-2016
Qualitative aerial observer map during transit
Navigate
South Sound
1 2
3
4
5
6
19
20

The Victoria
Clipper IV carries
sensorsin its
sea chest. The
sensorsallow us
to plot transects
of:
A. Temperature
B. Chlorophyll
C. Turbidity
Over time,
we see the
dynamics of
these variables
in surface water
betweenSeattle
and Victoria,BC.
Continuousmonitoring September2016
Summary of Victoria Clipper IVferry data:
Water temperatures continue to be warm,andCentral Basinis still warmer thanthe Juan
de Fuca Strait. Algal concentrations are decreasingacross Central Basinwithsome short-
termgrowthin mid-September. Turbidity is slightly higher in the Strait than Puget Sound,
likely causedby Fraser River sediment outflow.
C.
B.A.
Not
shown,
fouling
effects

Continuousmonitoring September2016
Figures show daily data from
sensors installed on the ferry
which measure near-surface
waters at 5-secintervals while
the Victoria Clipper IV transits
between Seattle and Victoria,
BC.
A. Sea Surface Temperature:
Water is warmer inCentral
Basinthan the Strait.
B. Chlorophyll: Concentrations
are higher in Puget Soundthan
in the Strait.
C. Turbidity: Turbidity is low on
the entire route.
A.
C.
Victoria
Olympic
Peninsula
Seattle
Victoria
Olympic
Peninsula
Seattle
Victoria
Olympic
Peninsula
Seattle
B.

How have streamflows fared over Summer 2016?
Jim Shedd,
Ecology
C. In August, about 30 to 50% of streams
were below normal for most of the month.
In September, streamflows increased over
the second half of the month. Currently
about 75% of the state’s streamflows are
within the normal range.
In August, many streamflows werebelow-normalfromdrier and warmer conditions.
Precipitation in September improved streamflows in Puget Sound .
A. Well below normal precipitation in the
Puget Sound basin in August resulted in
declining streamflows after conditions
temporarily had improved in July.
B. Particularly low river flows occurred in the
Olympics and north Cascades in August. (See
page 9 inceasing salinity in coastal bays)
A. C.B.

Accessmooring
data:
ftp://www.ecy.wa.gov/ea
p/Mooring_Raw/Puget_S
ound/
Continuous monitoring :
Suzan.Pool@ecy.wa.gov
Get data from Ecology’sMarine MonitoringPrograms
Long–Term
MonitoringNetwork
Real–Time
Sensor Network
Accesscore
monitoringdata:
https://fortress.wa.gov/ec
y/eap/marinewq/mwdata
set.asp
christopher.krembs@ecy.w
a.gov
Ecology’s long-termmarine
monitoring stations
Continuous track
Riverand Stream WaterQuality
Monitoring
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/fw_riv
/rv_main.html
Discontinued (fundingcuts)

You may subscribe or unsubscribe to the Eyes Over Puget Sound email listservby going to:
http://listserv.wa.gov/cgi-bin/wa?A0=ECOLOGY-EYES-OVER-PUGET-SOUND
Many thanks to our business partners: Clipper Navigation,SwantownMarina,andKenmore Air.
We are looking forfeedbackto improve ourproducts.
Dr. ChristopherKrembs
christopher.krembs@ecy.wa.gov
Marine Monitoring Unit
EnvironmentalAssessment Program
WA Department of Ecology

Eops 2016 09_26

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Eops 2016 09_26