Research Vessel SoundGuardian

SoundGuardian is King County’s research vessel. It was built in 2016 and is operated by the Environmental Laboratory to carry on decades of marine and freshwater monitoring.

Our scientists need to be equipped to monitor the health of our local waters for the next several decades. As our region grows, increased pressure will be put on our waterbodies. It is part of King County's role to track how these pressures and those brought on by climate change affect our local waterbodies, including Puget Sound, Lake Washington, and the Duwamish River.

SoundGuardian is an important tool in our efforts to protect these natural resources. With population increases, our natural and built resources will become more stressed. To respond to this stress, we will need to take on new environmental responsibilities. SoundGuardian helps our scientists to inform the development of these responses by:

• Providing a safe and efficient platform for collecting and analyzing high quality water and sediment data.
• Allowing King County to conduct surveys, evaluate trends and processes in local water bodies, and being a regional resource for scientific studies.
• Using modern technology to answer complicated scientific questions.

Our goal is to improve the health and management of our waterbodies, not only for humans but for wildlife too. Healthier waterbodies mean better habitat for tiny phytoplankton all the way up the food web to the Southern Resident Orcas.