Join PSI at the Port Plaza dock (lower Budd Inlet) every Thursday this summer from 10:00-12:00! No reservations required.
Discover "What's Blooming in Budd?" and view weekly plankton photos and water quality data by clicking here: What's Blooming This Week?
Every week, PSI biologists dip their net into Budd Inlet to track plankton communities and screen for harmful algal blooms, or HABs. HABs are blooms of phytoplankton that cause harm to people, animals, or local water quality. This data will be submitted to NOAA’s SoundToxins program, a phytoplankton monitoring network designed to provide early warning of HABs in an effort to protect human health and economic losses to fisheries.
Analyze Data
What can we learn from our data? Monitoring water quality helps us recognize trends, patterns and changes over time. For example, the data that we collect ultimately helps researchers forecast HAB events and better understand how changing climate conditions impact plankton communities.
Plot-Along-At-Home
To track plankton communities and water quality over the summer print a Plot-Along-At-Home graph template or draw your own. You can even create your own template based on your individual research questions. How do temperature and salinity differ between the surface and depth? Is there a relationship between temperature and HAB concentrations? Plot the data and find out! Data can be found at the end of the "What's Blooming This Week?" document. Share your graphs with us! We'd love to see your results!
Image sourced from event website.
