Pop quiz: What’s damp, muddy, and perfectly Pacific Northwest? Not just our mud rooms—there’s also the tide pools that dot the beaches at low tide. Wandering between slick piles of seaweed and barnacle-covered boulders, a mini saltwater safari is a perfect summertime activity. We even have a name for it: tide pooling.
Our region’s rich shoreline results from the particular brew of cold water that rises from the deeps of the Salish Sea in a process called upwelling. It hauls what Seattle Aquarium’s Jen Strongin calls “a rich soup of plankton and phytoplankton” to our beaches. Where there’s microscopic nutrients, well, the larger and more visible life will follow. Couple that
→ Continue reading at SeattleMet