1. Who’s Who in Ocean 101?
 Majority of your classmates grew up in western WA, but….
 Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois,
Maryland, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Wisconsin,
Tennessee, Texas, Utah
 Canada, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Korea, New Zealand,
Philippines, Viet Nam
 Just as many seniors & juniors as freshman
 The most popular reason for taking the course was to fill NW
requirement (and it was one of the only classes open)
 …most of you wrote that you like to play in the water and
are intrigued by the ocean

2. Course website
https://catalyst.uw.edu/workspace/mrasmuss/16171/
UW Net ID
All course materials available on the site
Register for the cruise through the “Extra Credit” view
Check daily for announcements

3. The importance of oceanography to
the people and economy of the
Pacific Northwest
 Water, water everywhere: identifying the waters that
surround WA state
 What and where is the Puget Sound (PS)?
 How do we use WA waters, especially Puget Sound?
 How is the Puget Sound important to the economy of our
region?
 Why am I seeing all those advertisements about the
health of Puget Sound on TV?
 www.pugetsoundstartshere.org

4. Location Systems
W E
N
S

5. Where is the Puget Sound (PS)?
 What is the approximate
latitude of Seattle?
 Longitude?
N
W

6. Strait of Juan
de Fuca
Seattle
Puget
Pacific Sound
Ocean
Olympia
Western Washington from space
Focus on Washington Waters
Image: http://www.worldmapsonline.com/SatPosters/
WashingtonSpace.jpg

7. Whidbey Basin
Admiralty Inlet
Main Basin
Hood Canal
South Sound
Puget Sound from Space
Where is Puget Sound?

8. What is the Puget Sound?
 Sound? Fjord? Estuary?
 Sound: complex of inland waterways
 Fjord: system of flooded glacial
valleys
 Estuary: semi-enclosed coastal (salty
water) body of water with one or
more rivers or streams flowing into it

9. What is the Puget Sound?
How was it formed?
 What time scale?
 Millions of years ago (MYA)
 Mountains forms
 Tens of thousands of years
ago
 Glacier advance and
retreat
 Five thousand years ago
beaches formed
 Weather, waves, gravity &
humans continue to shape
beaches

10. How was the Puget Sound formed
Many millions of years ago (MYA) – topic revisited week 9
 Earth’s surface divided
into shifting slabs or
plates
 Plates move relative to
one another
 What causes plate
motion?
 What happens at plate
boundaries?

11. How was the Puget Sound formed?
MYA (2.4) to tens of thousands of years ago
 20,000 years ago PS was under a mile of
ice
 Covered everything between Cascades
& Olympic mountains
 Glaciers advance from Canada and
retreat
 http://exhibits.pacsci.org/puget_sound/
graphics/ps_glaciationsm.mov
 Heavy pressure
 Meltwater creates streams and lakes
 Ice dam breaks creates PS

12. What did the glaciers leave behind?
 Bulldozed & scattered
material Weather, waves, gravity & humans
continue to shape Puget Sound
 Pressure etched on beaches
bedrock
 Layers of soils and rocks
Glacial rocks Glacial scrapes Glacial layers

13. How do people use Puget Sound?
 Home to 4 million people (2/3 state population)
 Recreation
 Boating: yachts, sailing, kayaking
 Fishing: over 211 fish species found
 Tide pooling and beach combing
 Commercial industries and shipping
 Sewage

14. How is the Puget Sound important to
our economy?
 Puget Sound economic activities generate $20
billion annually
 Tourism
 Commercial Fishing
 Shipping
 Ship Building and Industry

15. Why am seeing all those
advertisements about the state of
Puget Sound on TV?
 www.pugetsoundstartshere.org
 Frontline “Poisoned Waters” clip
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cm1lbwz3Dz8

16. Problem below the surface
 Each day 140,000 lbs of toxic chemicals enter the Sound
 Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), lead, zinc, copper, petroleum
 75% of those chemicals enter by stormwater runoff
 549 streams, rivers and lakes with poor water quality
ratings
 Mammals and fish have “among the most PCB-
contaminated on the planet”
Source: pugetsoundstartshere.org

17. Puget Sound is in trouble.
You can help.
 A few simple changes make a big difference
 In your yard: use fertilizers and pesticides sparingly,
or just use compost
 With your car: take your car to a commercial car
wash and have oil leaks fixed
 Around your dog: pick up poop and bag it
 At home: use natural cleaning products, turn off
the lights, turn down the heat, take shorter showers