Spring 2016: Olympic Drift Card Study

The vast majority of our drift cards are released from the mouth of the Elwha. In the spring of 2016, most of the drift cards were found east of the Elwha Mouth, suggesting that there was generally a westerly flow during this time period. Of the 500 drift cards thrown from the Elwha in the spring, ~45 drift cards were found, and only seven managed to make it out of the Straight of Juan de Fuca to the outer coast of Washington. Unlike last year, no cards made it to the west coast of Vancouver Island although some made it to the east side of Vancouver Island.

During the summer months, drift cards released from the Elwha had a slightly different dispersal pattern than that of the spring. In the summer, there was roughly a 50/50 split with respect to being found east or west of the Elwha Mouth. The number of cards found on Washington’s outer coast remained relatively the same, although more cards were found on the outer coast of Vancouver Island than in the spring. One card in particular traveled nearly 300 miles to the northern part of Vancouver Island near San Jose Bay.

Cape Flattery is a great place to release drift cards. There is great potential for cards released there to catch currents that can really take them places. This is because Cape Flattery is the most northwestern point in the continental United States and because the launch site is off a cliff above the water where you can really get some distance when you throw your card. Because of this, cards launched from Cape Flattery have a history of being found far away. This year was no exception as we had a drift card reported from our farthest point yet… Sitka, Alaska! This is a nearly 900-mile journey for a drift card, much of it on the open ocean. Quite the voyage. That is about as far as Lake Crescent to the Montana/North Dakota Border or for our California based readers, from San Francisco to the heart of the Colorado Rocky Mountains.

Of the other sites where we had students release drift cards this year (Tongue Point and Second Beach), most of the cards washed ashore quite close to where they were released so they are not reported here. If you have specific questions about the drift card project, please reach out to me at cmorgan@naturebridge.org.
 
Stay tuned for a fall update. I hope you all get to spend some time on the coast this fall and keep your eyes peeled for little orange plywood cards. You never know where they might show up next.