Eyes over Puget Sound

Around once a month, we take to the air and travel by boat to obtain high-resolution aerial photo observations and gather water data at our monitoring stations and state ferry transects. This provides us a visual picture of the health of Puget Sound, which we call Eyes Over Puget Sound or EOPS.

Eyes Over Puget Sound empowers you to:

See what is currently happening in Puget Sound.
See how weather and climate are shaping Puget Sound water quality.
Use Eyes Over Puget Sound as free educational material for your own endeavors.

You can download a copy of the latest Eyes Over Puget Sound.

Surface conditions on our latest flight

This has been the third year of La Nina conditions. Weak upwelling off the coast and low river flows of major rivers meant less cold, nutrient-rich, upwelled water was entrained into Puget Sound in late summer and fall.

In October, water conditions in Puget Sound were generally as expected, while Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor were both unusually warm and salty.

Smoky air restricted our flight to only the southern and central Puget Sound. There, we saw blooms in terminal bays, as well as patches of jellyfish. Sediment in Commencement Bay and along shorelines in Totten Inlet was unusual for a dry fall.

A healthy food web has, at its base, a balance of nutrients. Explore what we found over two decades of monitoring.

Learn more about Eyes over Puget Sound

Contact information

Christopher Krembs, PhD.
Lead Oceanographer
christopher.krembs@ecy.wa.gov
360-280-8369

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Eyes over Puget Sound

Surface conditions on our latest flight

Learn more about Eyes over Puget Sound

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