MG
@orhighwater.bsky.social
Government science communicator in the Seattle area. I work with environmental scientists to make their work more accessible, usable, and enduring. Opinions are my own. Also really into birds, books, baseball, and baking.
Reposted by MG
Jumping over the catcher but the camera angles keep getting cooler:
September 20, 2026 at 1:35 AM
Jumping over the catcher but the camera angles keep getting cooler:
Reposted by MG
I love visuals that bring data to life, so I was very excited when I was asked to create animations for the @uitnorgesarktiske.bsky.social Museum showing the transatlantic scale of humpback whale migrations! This is just a subset of the data I am working with for @bioprotectproject.bsky.social🐋🌍🧪🌊
September 17, 2026 at 2:37 PM
I love visuals that bring data to life, so I was very excited when I was asked to create animations for the @uitnorgesarktiske.bsky.social Museum showing the transatlantic scale of humpback whale migrations! This is just a subset of the data I am working with for @bioprotectproject.bsky.social🐋🌍🧪🌊
Reposted by MG
Food, hands-on science and music will be offered at the Nisqually Watershed Festival on Saturday, Sept. 26, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.
September 16, 2026 at 10:30 PM
Food, hands-on science and music will be offered at the Nisqually Watershed Festival on Saturday, Sept. 26, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge.
I laughed out loud because this is not a baseball score?
But also this gives me a chance to tell/remind Bluesky that the Brewers logo is absolute perfection and no MLB team, or any human venture, will ever top it. Tom Meindel bested us all in perpetuity.
But also this gives me a chance to tell/remind Bluesky that the Brewers logo is absolute perfection and no MLB team, or any human venture, will ever top it. Tom Meindel bested us all in perpetuity.
September 12, 2026 at 1:44 AM
I laughed out loud because this is not a baseball score?
But also this gives me a chance to tell/remind Bluesky that the Brewers logo is absolute perfection and no MLB team, or any human venture, will ever top it. Tom Meindel bested us all in perpetuity.
But also this gives me a chance to tell/remind Bluesky that the Brewers logo is absolute perfection and no MLB team, or any human venture, will ever top it. Tom Meindel bested us all in perpetuity.
Reposted by MG
The Great Washington ShakeOut earthquake and tsunami drill is 10:15am, Oct. 15! If you haven’t registered yet, please do so!
www.shakeout.org/washington/
www.shakeout.org/washington/
The Great Washington ShakeOut
Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drills help people in homes, schools, and organizations worldwide improve preparedness and practice how to be safe during earthquakes. Register to participate in your state o...
www.shakeout.org
September 10, 2026 at 1:04 AM
The Great Washington ShakeOut earthquake and tsunami drill is 10:15am, Oct. 15! If you haven’t registered yet, please do so!
www.shakeout.org/washington/
www.shakeout.org/washington/
I love this Day in the Life story of an early career field biologist looking for juvenile Chinook salmon on Vashon Island. Nice photos of coho, sculpins, flounders, and coastal cutthroats, too. 🐟
kingcountyscience.com/2026/09/04/n...
kingcountyscience.com/2026/09/04/n...
Looking for juvenile Chinook in all the non-natal places - King County Science
Come along for a day in the life of a field biologist as she looks for small Chinook salmon in surprising streams.
kingcountyscience.com
September 10, 2026 at 12:39 AM
I love this Day in the Life story of an early career field biologist looking for juvenile Chinook salmon on Vashon Island. Nice photos of coho, sculpins, flounders, and coastal cutthroats, too. 🐟
kingcountyscience.com/2026/09/04/n...
kingcountyscience.com/2026/09/04/n...
A couple of weeks ago I spotted a trio of orcas (large, medium, and small 😍) while hiking at Deception Pass and it was the most PNW I've ever felt. Never gets old.
Here's a short video clip highlighting J-Pod's pass in Haro Strait on the morning of September 8th, 2026 🥰
They were in two tight groups moving quickly south. They continued offshore towards the banks and slowly westbound, but we hope they'll be back soon!
#orcas #srkw #salishsea #whalesky
They were in two tight groups moving quickly south. They continued offshore towards the banks and slowly westbound, but we hope they'll be back soon!
#orcas #srkw #salishsea #whalesky
September 9, 2026 at 6:20 PM
A couple of weeks ago I spotted a trio of orcas (large, medium, and small 😍) while hiking at Deception Pass and it was the most PNW I've ever felt. Never gets old.
Just remembered (again) that there isn't a proper salmon emoji to help celebrate this incredible outcome.
Chinook salmon have recolonised 88% of their historic range on the Klamath River, with more than 13,000 fish passing the old Iron Gate Dam site in 2025, up from 7,700 the year before. Two years after the dams’ removal, it’s going better than anyone predicted. buff.ly/pToC9gB
#ShareGoodNewsToo
#ShareGoodNewsToo
Rewilding the upper Klamath River Basin: rapid recolonization of Chinook salmon following the world’s largest dam removal - Scientific Reports
Scientific Reports - Rewilding the upper Klamath River Basin: rapid recolonization of Chinook salmon following the world’s largest dam removal
www.nature.com
September 9, 2026 at 2:59 PM
Just remembered (again) that there isn't a proper salmon emoji to help celebrate this incredible outcome.
Reposted by MG
Gettting rid of protections for 94% of wetlands and 1/3 of streams and rivers (especially out West).
"Relatively permanent" as a rule from the Supreme Court is ambiguous and essentially meaningless - some of the most important ecologically waters dry up seasonally!
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/04/c...
"Relatively permanent" as a rule from the Supreme Court is ambiguous and essentially meaningless - some of the most important ecologically waters dry up seasonally!
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/04/c...
Trump Administration Moves to Drop Protections for More Wetlands
The proposed rule could strip federal protections from most U.S. wetlands, many of which help feed drinking water systems.
www.nytimes.com
September 8, 2026 at 8:21 PM
Gettting rid of protections for 94% of wetlands and 1/3 of streams and rivers (especially out West).
"Relatively permanent" as a rule from the Supreme Court is ambiguous and essentially meaningless - some of the most important ecologically waters dry up seasonally!
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/04/c...
"Relatively permanent" as a rule from the Supreme Court is ambiguous and essentially meaningless - some of the most important ecologically waters dry up seasonally!
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/04/c...
Reposted by MG
Just great, great science writing (and engagement if you visit the comments section) on a fascinating and extremely complex topic.
Dark matter has eluded capture for decades. Did it just leave a trace?
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/s...
www.nytimes.com/2026/09/01/s...
Scientists Hunting Dark Matter Found Something Strange (Gift Article)
A lone signal from an experiment in South Dakota doesn’t fit the profile of any other known particles, physicists say.
www.nytimes.com
September 7, 2026 at 5:21 PM
Just great, great science writing (and engagement if you visit the comments section) on a fascinating and extremely complex topic.
This is so cool (and poetic). And they're bioluminescent!!
If it did, there are quadrillions of mesopelagic bristlemouths out there that know only a universe of ocean in every direction. Their taxon has never seen the seafloor or the light of the sun. Hatching, growing, spawning, and dying in an eternal liquid sensory deprivation chamber.
Gonostomatidae - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
September 3, 2026 at 2:38 AM
This is so cool (and poetic). And they're bioluminescent!!
Reposted by MG
for those who wish to watch? www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqCq...
Camera 1: 2026 American Samoa ROV + Mapping Exploration (EX2606)
YouTube video by NOAA Ocean Exploration
www.youtube.com
August 31, 2026 at 10:56 PM
for those who wish to watch? www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqCq...
I have come back to this @kuow.org story several times since it first published and I'm excited to see it getting an @npr.org feature. Yay for regional, collaborative, HOPEFUL science and all the people behind it!
I’d been covering sea star wasting disease for about a decade, but I hadn’t seen a sunflower star in the flesh for 17 years, until I visited UW’s Friday Harbor Labs last fall. 🧵
August 21, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by MG
“Rigorous science creates knowledge; effective communication helps that knowledge reach society and create impact.” - Ali Osman Öncel
👏👏👏
👏👏👏
August 20, 2026 at 3:11 AM
“Rigorous science creates knowledge; effective communication helps that knowledge reach society and create impact.” - Ali Osman Öncel
👏👏👏
👏👏👏
Reposted by MG
You may have seen Evacuation levels listed are are curious what it means. Level 1 means be ready. Be alert. Level 2 means get set to leave at a moment’s notice. Level 3 means go. Leave now.
Find more details in the video.
youtu.be/BXim3du617g?...
Find more details in the video.
youtu.be/BXim3du617g?...
Evacuation Tips in Washington state
YouTube video by Washington Emergency Management Division
youtu.be
August 2, 2026 at 11:46 PM
You may have seen Evacuation levels listed are are curious what it means. Level 1 means be ready. Be alert. Level 2 means get set to leave at a moment’s notice. Level 3 means go. Leave now.
Find more details in the video.
youtu.be/BXim3du617g?...
Find more details in the video.
youtu.be/BXim3du617g?...
King County just released a wildfire readiness toolkit. Find it here:
kingcounty.gov/en/dept/dnrp...
kingcounty.gov/en/dept/dnrp...
August 1, 2026 at 4:25 PM
King County just released a wildfire readiness toolkit. Find it here:
kingcounty.gov/en/dept/dnrp...
kingcounty.gov/en/dept/dnrp...
Reposted by MG
Scientists have begun to re-deploy ocean monitoring equipment yanked from Pacific Northwest waters by the Trump administration in September.
Northwest’s yanked ocean observatories start to return to sea
Scientists have begun to re-deploy ocean monitoring equipment yanked from Pacific Northwest waters by the Trump administration in September.
www.kuow.org
July 31, 2026 at 3:00 AM
Scientists have begun to re-deploy ocean monitoring equipment yanked from Pacific Northwest waters by the Trump administration in September.
We need that precipitation to replenish our sole source aquaman
does It’s Raining Men imply an entire Water Cycle of Men
July 30, 2026 at 4:10 AM
We need that precipitation to replenish our sole source aquaman
Reposted by MG
Pack it up folks. We’ve got the greatest talk title of all time, courtesy of @kristencovino.bsky.social.
July 27, 2026 at 12:15 AM
Pack it up folks. We’ve got the greatest talk title of all time, courtesy of @kristencovino.bsky.social.
Reposted by MG
It's always a thrill to get a feature story on the national @npr.org airwaves. Come for the watery sounds of an endangered species gliding to freedom. Stay for the kelp goddess and the surprise glam-rock ending.
www.npr.org/2026/07/22/n...
www.npr.org/2026/07/22/n...
How a Northwest tribe and an endangered sea creature are helping each other
Scientists are starting to reintroduce a 20-legged predator to kelp beds off Washington state after an underwater pandemic nearly wiped it out.
www.npr.org
July 23, 2026 at 11:08 PM
It's always a thrill to get a feature story on the national @npr.org airwaves. Come for the watery sounds of an endangered species gliding to freedom. Stay for the kelp goddess and the surprise glam-rock ending.
www.npr.org/2026/07/22/n...
www.npr.org/2026/07/22/n...
Reposted by MG
HYDRATION BREAK 🐣 🪶
June 20, 2026 at 9:06 PM
HYDRATION BREAK 🐣 🪶
Look at these GORGEOUS nudibranchs. Low low tide is the best best tide and exploring with professional marine scientists and beach naturalists makes it even. better.
#WestSeattle #Invertebrate #LowLowTide
#WestSeattle #Invertebrate #LowLowTide
July 15, 2026 at 2:16 AM
Look at these GORGEOUS nudibranchs. Low low tide is the best best tide and exploring with professional marine scientists and beach naturalists makes it even. better.
#WestSeattle #Invertebrate #LowLowTide
#WestSeattle #Invertebrate #LowLowTide
Reposted by MG
✴️🧵 When you hear the term "apex predator," this is probably not the image that springs to mind:
July 13, 2026 at 2:50 PM
✴️🧵 When you hear the term "apex predator," this is probably not the image that springs to mind:
A sad but unsurprising new chapter in the urban runoff mortality syndrome (URMS) story: Every fall we see adult coho salmon dying from 6PPDQ in urban streams before they can spawn. King County ecologists just spotted it happening to juvenile coho, too.
kingcountyscience.com/2026/06/01/m...
kingcountyscience.com/2026/06/01/m...
Mystery on the Green River: What killed these young salmon? - Headwaters
We know 6PPDQ kills adult coho when they return to spawn in urban streams. But is it also killing younger salmon before they even leave home?
kingcountyscience.com
June 5, 2026 at 1:30 AM
A sad but unsurprising new chapter in the urban runoff mortality syndrome (URMS) story: Every fall we see adult coho salmon dying from 6PPDQ in urban streams before they can spawn. King County ecologists just spotted it happening to juvenile coho, too.
kingcountyscience.com/2026/06/01/m...
kingcountyscience.com/2026/06/01/m...