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.
CCE News and Announcements
Latest Posts
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.
CCE holds Fall Forum at SIO
On 14 Oct 2024, CCE held a Forum with about 60 participants attending in-person and via Zoom. Recent CCE updates (2025 Process cruise, midterm review, special issue, data submission) and 5 min. lightning talks from nearly 30 people covered a wide range of CCE science!
CCE REU Program Ends with Final Presentations
Our seven REUs presented their summer research on 12 Sept., with pre-recorded and live presentations. We were all amazed by what they accomplished over 10-12 weeks this summer! A big shout-out to all of them, and their CCE mentors as well.
CCE Graduate student highlighted in Scripps Student Spotlight of Explorations Now
Grace Cawley, a 4th year Grad student, tells us all about her zooplankton community research in the CCE, and how much she loves going to sea! Read here
LTER Network “Science Road Trip” article on P2402 by CCE Grad student published
PhD student Dante Capone, a 2024 LTER writing fellow, recently published a piece on CCE’s P2402 science and activities, which you can read all about here!