Tag Archives: Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Northwest’s most active (undersea) volcano is getting a little frisky

Hundreds of miles west of Oregon, the Axial Seamount appears to be heading to another eruption. The most active volcano in the Pacific Northwest is the Axial Seamount. It’s located 300 miles west of Astoria, Oregon, and a mile under the ocean. It’s erupted three times in the past 25 years. And now after a […]
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Concerns grow over Canadian pipeline expansion and impact on oil tanker activity in Pacific Northwest waters – OPB’s Think Out Loud

Last week, crude oil started flowing through a newly expanded pipeline that stretches more than 600 miles from the tar sands of Canada’s Alberta province to an export terminal near Vancouver in British Columbia. The Canadian government spent $25 billion and more than four years to complete construction on the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion which […]
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Let’s protect Oregon’s underwater forests

Oregon’s underwater forests are vitally important, and there’s more we can do to protect them. Estimates suggest that over 10 billion trees call Oregon home – that’s a lot of forest. It’s easy to picture scenery lush with Douglas firs, redwoods and oaks. However, our forests aren’t just on land, they’re also in our ocean […]
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Latest earthquake cluster strikes off Oregon coast

5.7 magnitude is considered a “moderate” earthquake. A series of earthquakes struck off the Oregon coast Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. Five temblors, ranging from magnitude 3.9 to magnitude 5.7, rumbled in the Pacific Ocean just over 100 miles west-southwest of Port Orford between about 7:20 p.m. and 9 p.m. Source: Latest earthquake cluster […]
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Researchers find far-reaching effects of marine heat waves

Nearly a decade after a “blob” of warm water showed up off the Oregon Coast, researchers are still making new discoveries about how it impacted the ecosystem. In late 2013, the waters off the Pacific Northwest began to heat up. The marine heat wave — what came to be known as “the blob” — would last for several years. […]
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Rising temperatures from climate change depleting oxygen in coastal waters, threatening marine life

During the summer of 2021, half of coastal waters from northern California to the Canadian border had oxygen levels too low to support marine life. Climate change has warmed waters off the coasts of Oregon, Washington and northern California each summer, and reduced oxygen levels over a much larger area of the Pacific Ocean than […]
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Why pickle-shaped sea creatures are popping up along Pacific Northwest coasts

Around five years ago, scientists surveying the coast off Oregon and Washington found something odd: Pickle-shaped sea creatures. It was a mystery. These strange, tropical organisms showed up en masse, clogging nets and intriguing scientists. “I had to look up pyrosomes for the first time. I had seen one once way off shore and then […]
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Oregon State U and fishing industry team up to measure ocean oxygen loss

Most living beings do not function well when starved of oxygen, to put it mildly. Hypoxia (literally “low oxygen”) can also show up in bodies of water, and it is showing up more frequently in our oceans, including in the Pacific off the Oregon Coast. People in the fishing industry want to know more about […]
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Scientists Are Freaking Out About Ocean Temperatures

State Library Ed. Note: If you cannot access this story directly from the source, state employees can access this New York Times story HERE via the State Library’s subscription to the US Newstream database. Alternatively, state employees can contact us for access: LibraryHelp.SLO@slo.oregon.gov or 503-378-8800.

Salt making on the Oregon Coast, then and now

Modern salt makers rely on the same basic concept used by Lewis and Clark in 1805. Salt. Seems simple, right? Common on just about any restaurant table or grocery store shelf. Probably even in your own kitchen cabinet. And yet, such simple grains of salt have a long history, from ancient times to today. Here […]
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