King County (KC) will begin high-precision monitoring of pH and calcium carbonate saturation state in 2015 to provide data for the assessment of current baseline conditions and trends in King County waters. With a better understanding of existing variation in pH and calcium carbonate saturation state, the effects of natural and anthropogenic nutrient inputs can be studied in the future. This program is a collaboration with the University of Washington (UW) and NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) and will involve both deployment of high precision pH sensors on existing in situ platforms and monthly or semi-monthly water sampling.

This document includes background information, program objectives, sample collection and analysis protocols, and the planned sampling design and data management procedures for this program.