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
- LTER site exchange fellows announced for 2025
- CCE Grad students to defend PhD theses in May
- Marine Ecological Time Series (METS) – Research Coordination Network (RCN) Meeting
- Briefing: Impacts of Wildfires on Ocean and Coastal Health
- CCE graduate students participate in research cruise off the central coast of California
Latest Posts
LTER site exchange fellows announced for 2025
The LTER Network Office recently announced it will fund four site exchange fellowships in 2025. CCE LTER will host a Graduate student (Alexandra Cabanelas Bermudez) from the NES LTER site, and will also send Graduate student (Margaret “Maggie” Baker) to the NGA LTER site. Read all about it here!
CCE Grad students to defend PhD theses in May
Two CCE Graduate students will defend their theses this month! Jamee Adams (J. Diaz Lab) will present “Nutritional roles and enzymatic mechanisms of phosphorus utilization by marine microbes” on 16 May at 2 pm in Hubbs 4500. Hannah Adams (A. Schartup Lab) will present “Environmental and microbial drivers of methylmercury variabilityRead more.
Marine Ecological Time Series (METS) – Research Coordination Network (RCN) Meeting
CCE’s Information Manager, Marina Frants, will be a co-organizer and presenter at the the METS-RCN International Workshop on FAIR Data Practices for Marine Ecological Time Series, taking place at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences April 22-25. The workshop will bring together ocean scientists, data managers, and informatics experts and statisticiansRead more.
Briefing: Impacts of Wildfires on Ocean and Coastal Health
CCE Associate, Julie Dinasquet, will be part of an expert panel briefing, hosted by the California Ocean Science Trust on April 1, 2025. The topic will revolve around ocean and coastal impacts of wildfires (smoke, ash and debris). CCE Grad student, Dante Capone, is also busy working behind the scenesRead more.
CCE graduate students participate in research cruise off the central coast of California
The student-led research cruise, which occurred within the Santa Lucia Basin area in February 2025, “aimed to explore how bottom-up processes, including physics and a productive plankton community, might explain an unusually high diversity and abundance of seabirds and marine mammals.” Read entire article here, written by CCE graduate studentRead more.