"> 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 […]
November 12, 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 […]
March 25, 2024
"> Speaker series continues with focus on groundwater and stream flow models
The Salish Sea Science Roundtable speaker series continues on Tuesday, April 2 from 12:30 – 1:30 pm. The talk is hosted by the Puget Sound Institute and will look at how the Suquamish Tribe is using models such as MODFLOW and VELMA to manage groundwater and stream flows. As climate change intensifies, more frequent heatwaves, reduced snowpack, […]
March 20, 2024
"> Resources for local habitat protection, monitoring, and adaptive management
The following article was commissioned by the Habitat Strategic Initiative Lead (HSIL), a cross-agency team co-led by the Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife and Natural Resources. Do you work with local environmental regulations? Would you like to improve habitat protection through more effective permitting? This overview can help if you are thinking about responding […]
June 8, 2023
"> Health of killer whales examined through Bayesian network modeling and informed predictions
Qualitative network modeling, as shown in the previous post in Our Water Ways, is focused on actions that create either positive or negative results for actors in the model. This modeling approach is useful for considering the possible outcomes triggered by various actions, especially when data are lacking to develop mathematical relationships between the actors. […]
June 1, 2023
"> Researchers use a qualitative network model to test ways to boost production at shellfish farms
As part of a project exploring the technical uncertainties surrounding Puget Sound water quality, we are reviewing how computer models are used to advance our understanding of natural systems. This blog post is part of a series focused on different models and their uses within the Puget Sound ecosystem. The project is jointly sponsored by King […]
May 25, 2023
"> Before supercomputers, a structural model helped scientists predict currents in Puget Sound
As part of a project exploring the technical uncertainties surrounding Puget Sound water quality, we are reviewing how computer models are used to advance our understanding of natural systems. This blog post is part of a series focused on different models and their uses within the Puget Sound ecosystem. The project is jointly sponsored by King […]
September 25, 2022
"> Six things that people should know about ecosystem modeling and virtual experiments
The Puget Sound Institute is facilitating a series of online workshops and discussions to explore the technical uncertainties related to the science of Puget Sound water quality. As part of the project, we are publishing informational blogs and articles, including this look at how computer models are becoming increasingly important to our understanding of the natural world. The project is […]
December 17, 2021
"> Modeling “the blob” in the Salish Sea
In late 2013, a marine heatwave that scientists dubbed “the blob” began warming the ocean throughout the Northeast Pacific, causing temperatures to rise almost 3°C above normal. The disruption severely depressed salmon returns. Whales, sea lions and seabirds starved, and warm water creatures were suddenly being spotted off the coast of Alaska. In Puget Sound, temperatures also jumped, but the effects of the blob […]
September 27, 2021
Introducing DORA Explorer
Whether on land or in the sea, oxygen is critical for sustaining life. Healthy ecosystems depend on it, and the amount of dissolved oxygen in marine environments is one of the ways that scientists measure water quality. Both the research community and the regulatory authorities rely on complex computer models of the Salish Sea to […]