Where is kelp found

Giant kelp can grow anywhere there are cold, shallow, nutrient-rich waters and a rocky seafloor. Conditions for kelp growth have historically been ideal along the west coast of North America, as well as Chile, Peru, the Falkland Islands, South Africa, and around Australia, New Zealand, and the sub-Antarctic islands. More and more often these days, though, the conditions are less ideal. Climate change has brought a trifecta of kelp scourges: warmer waters with fewer nutrients; new invasive species; and severe storms.

After a recent meeting on kelp forests and climate change, Byrnes, Cavanaugh, and other colleagues set out to consolidate all of the available kelp forest data from around the world. They wanted to take a step toward understanding how climate change is affecting kelp globally, but they quickly discovered they had a sparse patchwork of information.

Byrnes was struck with a thought. They had used Landsat to expand their studies across time, so why not use Landsat to expand their studies around the world? Could Landsat be used to establish global trends in kelp forest extent? The answer was yes, but the problem was eyeballs. Unlike research on terrestrial vegetation—which uses Landsat data and powerful computer processing arrays to make worldwide calculations—distinguishing kelp forests requires manual interpretation.

While kelp forests pop out to the human eye in near-infrared imagery, computers looking at the data numerically can confuse kelp patches with land vegetation. Programs and coded logic that separate aquatic vegetation from land vegetation can be confounded by things like clouds, sunglint, and sea foam.

Clouds, sunglint, and sea foam make it difficult for computer programs to detect the location of forests. So far, human eyes work better. Byrnes, now based at the University of Massachusetts—Boston, realized that the best way to study global kelp changes was to turn to citizen scientists.

Byrnes and Cavanaugh put together a science team and joined with Zooniverse, a group that connects professional scientists with citizen scientists in order to help analyze large amounts of data. The result was the Floating Forests project. The Floating Forest concept is all about getting more eyeballs on Landsat imagery. Citizen scientists—recruited via the Internet—are instructed in how to hunt for giant kelp in satellite imagery. They are then given Landsat images and asked to outline any giant kelp patches that they find.

Their findings are crosschecked with those from other citizen scientists and then passed to the science team for verification. The size and location of these forests are catalogued and used to study global kelp trends. In addition to examining the California coast, which Byrnes and Cavanaugh know well, the Floating Forests project has also focused on the waters around Tasmania.

Info Alerts Maps Calendar Reserve. Alerts In Effect Dismiss. Dismiss View all alerts. Kelp Forests. Bull kelp makes for an eerie scene in Glacier Bay waters. Last updated: February 14, Keep Current! Glacier Bay's Ocean Science Hub. Bring Glacier Bay to your classroom! Glacier Bay Curriculum Materials. What's swimming in park waters? Since the giant kelp is not a plant, it does not have roots.

Instead, it obtains all of the necessary nutrients directly from the water and is attached to the rocky bottom by a structure known as a holdfast. This species is one of the fastest growing species in the world, and under perfect conditions, it has been known to grow up to two feet 60 cm in a single day.

Once and individual giant kelp reaches the sea surface, it continues to grow horizontally, floating in large mats that shade the water column and sea floor below. In order to remain upright, each giant kelp blade leaf includes a gas-filled pod that floats. Several individuals growing together can create dense forests that are an important ecosystem in temperate, coastal areas where they live. Several species eat giant kelp, and fluctuating populations of purple sea urchins are known to play a role in kelp forest formation and destruction.

We obviously love kelp - but what makes this seaweed so important? Here are the reasons we think kelp matters:. Photo courtesy of martineviljoen View Gallery. Plan Your Trip. Special Offers. Online Resources. Things To Do. School Lessons and Outreach. Tourism Professionals. Feeding Times. Conservation Work. Web design and content by Flow Communications. Search Two Oceans Aquarium Toggle navigation. Home Blog What is kelp?

Everything you need to know about this marvellous seaweed. South African kelp How does it grow? Kelp Forests are critical ecosystems Can you eat kelp?

Why does kelp matter? How can you protect kelp? Let's take a look at everything you need to know about kelp: All dripping in tangles green, Cast up by a lonely sea; If purer for that, O Weed, Bitterer, too, are ye?

What is kelp?