Ocean & Climate
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 oceans. 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 impacts from more intense and frequent marine heatwaves, harmful algal blooms, and coastal storms.