Summary

Quartermaster Harbor is a unique body of water in that it consists of an inner and outer harbor that do not share common characteristics. The inner harbor is shallower in depth and experiences less flushing than the outer harbor. In addition, the inner harbor experiences warmer temperatures and less density at surface depths than the outer harbor.

When the data collected in Spring of 2009 is compared to the data collected in Spring of 2008 (Greengrove et al.), many similarities are noticed. Temperature CTD plots show the most similarity from year to year. The only difference in denisty and salinity CTD plots are that the surfaces depths show a higher concentration of salinity and density in 2009 over 2008. Stations 52-56 are similar in that they share characteristics of increased density and salinity as depth increased. When comparing dissolved oxygen a similar trend of increased dissolved oxygen at the surface and decreased dissolved oxygen with increasing depth is detected. Fluorescence and transmissivity are the two plots that share the least amount of commonalities. In 2009, higher concentration of fluorescence is detected throughout the water column than in 2008. While the transmissivity graphs do not seem to share many traits, when observed carefully a trend of decreased transmissivity as depth increases is made apparent.

Quartermaster Harbor has gained attention by researchers in the past years, due to the presence of Alexandrium cantenella. A. cantenella is a toxic dinoflagellate that is known to produce paralytic shellfish poisioning (PSP). Researchers are pursuing a progressive study of the species with the intention of reducing the population in the Puget Sound, due to environmental and health dangers. Furthermore, researchers would like to investigate a correlation between water properties and abundance of A. cantenella.

Researchers will continue to study Quartermaster Harbor and hopefully the data collected by TESC 445 in the Spring of 2009 will be of some use for future research.