Ocean Conditions

Two people in foul weather gear and hard hats stand on the back of a vessel at sea holding an orange-colored scientific instrument that is hanging off an A-frame hoist.
Photo: NOAA

Ocean conditions are expected to undergo significant changes by the end of the century due to increasing carbon emissions, more than a quarter of which have been absorbed by the ocean. Many of the projected changes have the potential to profoundly impact coastal and marine ecosystems on both local and global scales, threatening the physical, social, cultural, economic, and environmental well-being of communities that depend on them. On the Olympic Coast, ocean conditions continue to change and intensify in response to climate change, prompting concerns about impacts from ocean acidification, warming ocean temperatures, increased stratification, rising sea levels, and declines in dissolved oxygen, as well as from more intense and frequent marine heatwaves, harmful algal blooms, and coastal storms.

Key sources of oceanographic information for the area include: