Eyes over Puget Sound

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.

Summary of latest observations

Large-scale influences on Puget Sound, climate, and streams

• Following a generally warmer and drier winter and a cold spell in February, much of Puget Sound waters are too cold for anchovies.
• Most stream gages are reporting normal flows.
• Air temperature will play a critical role in determining how long our reduced snowpack can sustain streamflows to Puget Sound in the summer months.

What we saw on our flights over Puget Sound

• The productive season is in full swing with algal blooms spotted in South Sound, Kitsap Peninsula, and Quartermaster Harbor.
• Jellyfish are abundant in some inlets.
• Noctiluca stains the water orange in Totten Inlet, Belfair, and Hood Canal.
• We spotted a transient pod of orcas in Case Inlet (South Sound).

Behind the scenes of science

• In this month's report we take you into the lab to see how we assure the highest data quality from our field instruments.

Learn more about Eyes over Puget Sound