Atlas8 min read
Western Port: A Bay of Mangrove, Seagrass and Drift Kelp
Western Port, Victoria's second bay, pairs Australia's southern mangroves with vast seagrass flats, million-strong shorebird migrations and tide-borne kelp.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Coastal Atlas
Guides to the world’s kelp coastlines — the Great Southern Reef, Monterey Bay, Hokkaido, Norway, Patagonia — their ecology, seasons and stories.
257 articles · Browse the Coastal Atlas map →
Atlas9 min read
The White Sea: Kelp Forests Under the Ice
A semi-enclosed sea in northwest Russia where kelp grows beneath months of ice, fed by Arctic rivers and Atlantic tides — one of Earth's most unusual kelp ecosystems.
Dr. Lena Fischer ·
Atlas8 min read
Wilsons Promontory: Kelp Forests at Mainland Australia's Southern Tip
A region guide to Wilsons Promontory — granite reefs, cold Bass Strait water, crayweed and common kelp forests, fur seals and how to visit the Prom's marine parks.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Atlas10 min read
The Aleutian Islands: Where Science Learned What Otters Are For
A 1,900-kilometre arc of volcano, fog and kelp strung between Alaska and Siberia — the coastline that taught ecologists how sea otters hold kelp forests together.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Atlas8 min read
Baja California: The Southern Frontier of Giant Kelp
Baja California's Pacific kelp beds mark giant kelp's warm-water frontier — a coast of El Niño crashes, fast recovery, red urchin fisheries and hard-won lessons.
Dr. Elias Brandt ·
Atlas8 min read
The Basque Coast: Swell, Flysch and the Kelp Beneath the Lineup
Read the Basque coast as wave country — flysch reefs that shape famous surf and hold a storm-pruned kelp forest, plus the wakame that rode in on the ports.
Tom Okafor ·
Atlas9 min read
Brittany: Europe's Largest Kelp Forests and the Goémon Coast
Brittany grows the biggest kelp beds in Europe and built an industry on goémon. A guide to the Iroise Sea's Laminaria forests, the harvest and its future.
Dr. Theo Nakamura ·
Atlas10 min read
The Cantabrian Coast: Kelp at the Southern Edge of Europe's Range
Northern Spain's Cantabrian coast holds kelp at the shrinking warm edge of its European range — the continent's best-documented climate front line underwater.
Dr. Lena Fischer ·
Atlas9 min read
Dive Guide: Gerstle Cove and Salt Point's Bull Kelp, Sonoma Coast
Gerstle Cove in Salt Point State Park is Sonoma's signature shore dive — bull kelp, red abalone and sculpted sandstone reefs in one of California's first marine reserves.
Tom Okafor ·
Atlas9 min read
Falkland Islands: The Engine of Southern Ocean Kelp
Inside the Falkland Islands' giant kelp beds — among the most extensive on Earth — and the penguins, seals and steamer ducks that run on them.
Dr. Lena Fischer ·
Atlas9 min read
Galicia's Rías: Where Kelp Meets the Harvest
Galicia's drowned river valleys mix upwelled Atlantic riches with a foraging culture older than Spain's seaweed industry. A guide to the rías and their kelp.
Sofia Andersson ·
Atlas10 min read
Haida Gwaii: Kelp Forests at the Edge of the Continent
Ninety kilometres of black ocean off northern British Columbia, an archipelago of giant kelp, ancient villages and Haida co-management — kelp country at its most sovereign.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Atlas6 min read
Jervis Bay: Kelp, Seagrass and the Whitest Sand in Australia
Jervis Bay mixes kelp reefs, seagrass meadows and powder-white beaches inside a long-protected marine park. Your guide to diving, snorkelling and its wild edges.
Tom Okafor ·
Atlas8 min read
Kangaroo Island: Kelp, Seadragons and Southern Swell
Granite reefs, golden kelp, leafy seadragons and sea lions: a field guide to Kangaroo Island's wild underwater south, from Penneshaw to Western River Cove.
Tom Okafor ·
Atlas9 min read
Lofoten: Kelp Forests Under the Northern Lights
Inside the Arctic Circle, warm Atlantic water meets polar light cycles and grows some of Europe's richest kelp forests. A guide to Lofoten's underwater jungle.
Tom Okafor ·
Atlas6 min read
Maria Island: Tasmania's Island Kelp Sanctuary
Maria Island pairs a World Heritage convict site with one of Tasmania's pioneering marine reserves. A diver and walker's guide to its reefs, wildlife and kelp.
Tom Okafor ·
Atlas8 min read
Kelp Forests of Monterey Bay: A Coastal Atlas Guide
Monterey Bay holds some of North America's most accessible giant kelp forests — a canyon-fed, otter-patrolled ecosystem you can dive, kayak or watch from shore.
Dr. Theo Nakamura ·
Atlas8 min read
Port Phillip Heads and the Mornington Peninsula: Melbourne's Kelp
Weedy seadragons under the piers, drift dives through The Rip and kelp on the back beaches — a field guide to Port Phillip Heads and the Mornington Peninsula.
Tom Okafor ·
Atlas10 min read
The Olympic Coast: Washington's Wilderness Kelp Frontier
No towns, no coast highway, 135 wild miles of rock and bull kelp under the Olympic mountains — the most intact temperate marine wilderness left in the lower 48.
Dr. Lena Fischer ·
Atlas8 min read
Port Phillip Bay: Melbourne's Giant Kelp Garden
Behind the treacherous Rip lies a 1,900 km² sunken valley of kelp beds and seagrass: Port Phillip Bay, the temperate reef at Melbourne's front door.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Atlas9 min read
Scotland's West Coast: Kelp Forests of the Hebrides
Sea lochs, tidal sound races and a kelp-burning past: a guide to the kelp forests of Scotland's west coast and the Hebrides, and where the industry is heading next.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Atlas8 min read
Stewart Island / Rakiura: New Zealand's Southern Kelp
Bladder kelp beds, a storied pāua fishery, tea-coloured inlets and daylight kiwi: a guide to Stewart Island/Rakiura, New Zealand's southern kelp coast.
Dr. Mara Ellison ·
Atlas9 min read
Sydney's Crayweed Coast: The City That Planted a Forest Back
From Palm Beach to Kurnell, a snorkel-and-dive trail along Sydney's replanted crayweed reefs: what to see, when to go, and how a city regrew a forest.
Tom Okafor ·
Atlas7 min read
Tasmania's East Coast: The Front Line of Kelp Loss — and Recovery
Tasmania's east coast has lost the vast majority of its giant kelp forests to warming seas and urchins. Explore what happened here, and what's coming back.
Dr. Lena Fischer ·