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UC Santa Cruz Researchers Find NorCal Kelp Forest Nearly Wiped Out

The kelp forest declined by an average of 95 percent since 2013.

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The new study was the first to use satellite imagery to more closely analyze changes in growth along with ocean temperature and nutrient levels.
The new study was the first to use satellite imagery to more closely analyze changes in growth along with ocean temperature and nutrient levels. (Nicole Charky/Patch)

By CBS San Francisco Staff:

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.

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