As Mendocino experiences the worst drought in its history, the authorities have declared a state of calamity in the area. Businesses have been closed due to low water supply, prices of fresh goods have increased causing financial losses to the owners, while even inn owners have told their guests not to take a bath, as local homes struggle with water for their families.
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.
New satellite images show Northern California s kelp forest almost gone. Here s the reason
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A harbor seal swims through a Kelp Forest in Noyo Harbor, Fort Bragg, California on Monday September 13, 2020.Jon AndersonShow MoreShow Less
2of7Jon Holcomb clears purple sea uchins from the ocean floor using an urchin rake and an air lift near Fort Bragg, Calif. on Tuesday, April 3, 2018. Northern California s recreational red abalone season has been closed because of dwindling populations. Funding through diving associations has been secured for professional divers to remove the invasive purple sea urchin from sections of Northern California s coastal waters in an attempt to jump start the growth of kelp and reignite the red abalone population.Brian Feulner / Special to The Chronicle 2018Show MoreShow Less