Front Page Featured Items Archive | Puget Sound Institute

December 16, 2024

Protecting the health of people who eat fish: The long battle over water quality standards

Culminating more than a decade of fierce debate, Washington state officials formally adopted new water-quality standards for toxic chemicals to protect the health of people who eat fish from our local waterways. On its face, this action appears inconsequential, considering that these numerical criteria were already in place, having been imposed two years ago by […]

Blog Post

December 16, 2024

A distributary channel created by The Nature Conservancy as a shortcut for juvenile Chinook as they move from freshwater to saltwater environments. Photo: Sylvia Kantor/PSI

Ask a scientist: What is a distributary channel?

In a natural state, a river passing through a floodplain will have many side channels and tendrils that distribute the water, fanning it out across the delta. However, these channels are often lost when rivers are diverted to make room for farmland or other human development. In many cases, even after the dikes and levees […]

Blog Post

December 12, 2024

Photo credit: C̀háʔba· and NEMO moorings. Photo: John Mickett/UW

Annual report documents Puget Sound’s marine conditions

The Puget Sound Ecosystem Monitoring Program (PSEMP) has released its 13th annual overview of Puget Sound’s marine water conditions. The report is funded in part by the Puget Sound Institute and is produced by 67 contributors from federal, tribal, state, and local agencies, academia, nonprofits, and private and volunteer groups. The compilation looks back on the […]

Findings

December 12, 2024

The “unstructured grid” used in the Salish Sea Model allows for greater resolution (smaller triangles) when studying complex water circulation, such as around the Hood Canal bridge. Graphic: Tarang Khangaonkar

Featured paper: Salish Sea Model examines new way to reduce ocean acidification

Mixing and dilution controls on marine CO2 removal using alkalinity enhancement In the human body, dialysis is used to remove waste, a process that helps to reduce acidity in the blood. Scientists are using a similar process to withdraw seawater, remove acid, and return the high alkalinity water to the ocean. Ocean alkalinity enhancement is being […]

Research

December 11, 2024

January 7 roundtable will share insights from ‘End-to-End’ ecosystem modeling of the Strait of Georgia

Co-hosted with the Fisheries & Oceans Canada from 12:30 – 1:30 pm PT The Salish Sea Science Roundtable online speaker series continues on Tuesday, January 7 from 12:30 – 1:30 pm. How have ocean conditions, lower trophic level dynamics, and species interactions shaped the Strait of Georgia’s marine ecosystem over the past 40 years? What long-term […]

Events

November 18, 2024

Mysterious sharks gain recognition as scientists explore their contributions to Puget Sound

This past summer, two science papers documented, for the first time, the presence of two species of sharks not known to exist in Puget Sound. These species are commonly called sevengill and soupfin sharks. I am sorry to say that I did not know much about sharks in Puget Sound, and I had never written […]

Blog Post

November 14, 2024

December 3 roundtable will share emerging results from the Whidbey Basin Cumulative Effects Evaluation

Co-hosted with the Puget Sound Partnership from 12:30 – 1:30 pm PT The Salish Sea Science Roundtable online speaker series continues on Tuesday, December 3 from 12:30 – 1:30 pm. The roundtable will describe ongoing work to address the cumulative effects of restoration in the Whidbey Basin using synthesis methodology rooted in causal analysis. We will describe the […]

Events

November 7, 2024

Some orcas extend their stay in Puget Sound; others visit capture site for first time in years

Southern Resident killer whales have been hanging out in Puget Sound much longer than normal this fall, probably because of an unusually large run of chum salmon coming into Central and South Puget Sound, experts say. As of today, J pod has remained in Puget Sound for 19 straight days with the exception of a […]

Blog Post

November 7, 2024

Featured paper: Salish Sea Model examines new way to reduce ocean acidification

Research

November 1, 2024

‘Finding Common Ground’ airs November 5th on TVW

The University of Washington Puget Sound Institute and TVW are proud to have partnered with more than 20 diverse organizations, including multiple tribes, to produce the film Finding Common Ground: Collaborative Leadership in Washington State. The new documentary, airing this Tuesday, November 5th on TVW, explores the inspiring history of collaborative governance of salmon and other […]

Events

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