The blog
What we’re building, what we’re learning, and the data behind it.
Southern California coastal water had its second-warmest September since 1981, September sea level from San Francisco south topped 1997 (uncorrected for air pressure), and heatwaves off Morro and Tomales were still going on October 20th. It also covers the Kelvin wave and Vibrio.
About a third of Pseudo-nitzschia seriata-group blooms at California piers were followed within eight weeks by at least 0.5 ng/mL of domoic acid in seawater. El Niño indices added no detectable forecast skill beyond local ocean state, in tests that could only catch a large gain.
In past El Niño winters, rule-implied rain-closure exposure rose clearly at only one of five California growing areas tested, and strong eastern-Pacific winters were close to all or nothing. What the literature says, what 75 years of rainfall show, and what to watch this winter.
The central equatorial Pacific is warmer for the time of year than in any year since 1950 on NOAA's current index, while the North Pacific runs cool. The first post in our El Niño series covers what we measured, what past events can tell growers, and what they can't.
A closer look at the DataShoal process: how buoys, gauges, sensors and weekly samples are brought onto one footing, checked to one standard, turned into repeatable indicators, and where AI models fit without adding uncertainty of their own.
DataShoal grows along two lines: what we can say about a bay, and how many bays we can say it about. A walk through the four-phase roadmap, what's shipped and what's underway.
A tide gauge, an offshore buoy, a river sensor, and a sampling station don't agree on format, schedule, units, or quality flags. How we bring two dozen public feeds onto common footing, so a number in the weekly read means the same thing wherever it came from.
What the bay pages show today, which monitoring stations feed them, and where the gaps still are.