The California Current Ecosystem LTER is part of the network of Long-Term Ecological Research sites funded by the National Science Foundation.
The California Current System is a coastal upwelling biome, as found along the eastern margins of all major ocean basins. These are among the most productive ecosystems in the world ocean. The California Current Ecosystem LTER (32.9°, -120.3°) is investigating nonlinear transitions in the California Current coastal pelagic ecosystem, with particular attention to long-term forcing by a secular warming trend, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and El Niño in altering the structure and dynamics of the pelagic ecosystem. The California Current sustains active fisheries for a variety of finfish and marine invertebrates, modulates weather patterns and the hydrologic cycle of much of the western United States, and plays a vital role in the economy of myriad coastal communities.
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Accepting REU applications for summer 2025!
CCE Graduate students to defend their PhD theses!
Shailja Gangrade (P. Franks group) will defend her doctoral dissertation entitled, “Plankton patchiness at mesoscale fronts and filaments: drivers, dynamics, and implications in the California Current System” on 14 Nov. 2024 Rob Lampe (A. Allen lab) will defend his doctoral dissertation entitled, “Environmental Genomic Investigations of Phytoplankton in the California Current Ecosystem” on 18Read more.