This mysterious Mukilteo waterfront building is home to cutting-edge climate change research

The windows are dark at the two-story building along the Mukilteo waterfront. The wooden siding looks worn and weathered. Just feet from Puget Sound, anything metal has hints of rust from decades of use and sitting exposed to the salty marine air. It might be almost Halloween, but this building - surrounded by a chain-linked fence topped with barbed wire - is no haunted house. It is challenging to do research in our current facility, says Paul McElhany. Hes station chief at the NOAA Northwest Fisheries Research Center. From his wood-paneled office on the second floor, a long pier extends from the building out into the breathtaking view of Puget Sound. In the distance is the green shoreline of Whidbey Island and a ferry docked on the other side of the water. Being able to pump water from Puget Sound is essential to what were doing, says McElhany. McElhany leads us on the a tour of the building and grounds through hallways with well-worn hardwood floors. This facility was a World War II Air Force barracks. In the 1970s, it was converted to a marine fisheries research center. Despite any run down appearance, the pioneering science here continues.