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Satellite images show kelp forest off Northern California almost gone
Associated Press
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This Sept. 26, 2019 photo shows coastal waters off Greenwood State Beach where The Nature Conservancy is mapping and monitoring one of Mendocino County s last remaining bull kelp forests near Elk, Calif.Terry Chea / Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) An analysis of satellite imagery has found that the kelp forest that only eight years ago formed a leafy canopy along the Northern California coast has almost disappeared.
In looking at satellite images of the Sonoma and Mendocino coast going back to 1985, researchers from the University of California, Santa Cruz found the kelp forest declined by an average of 95% since 2013. Their study shows the destruction was related to an explosion in the population of purple sea urchin, which eats it, and two warm water events that lasted from 2014 to 2016, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.
An analysis of satellite imagery has found that the kelp forest that only eight years ago formed a leafy canopy along the Northern California coast has almost disappeared.