Twice a week this summer, divers from the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium have been surveying bull kelp forests off Owen Beach in Tacoma, documenting the underwater ecosystem and tracking changes from year to year as part of a broader statewide effort to restore 10,000 acres of underwater forest by 2040. Lauren Donovan reports. (Fox 13)
During the FOX 13 dive, Schare recorded a water temperature of 55 degrees Fahrenheit at a depth of 39 feet.
“During the winter that’s even considered pretty high,” he said. “To see that tens of feet underwater in the summer is quite alarming.”
He said rising surface temperatures are putting additional stress on bull kelp, which thrives in cooler water, generally in the upper 40s to low 50s Fahrenheit.
Good short story reporting by FOX news in Tacoma.
https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/warm-weather-puget-sound-ecosystems
Filed under: Around the Sound, Climate Change, Environmental Science, Global Warming, Washington State |
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