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 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!
Summer REU program underway at CCE!
Seven undergraduates joined our CCE team late June to conduct summer research in various labs at SIO. A big welcome to (L to R in photo): Soleil Michaud, Ainsleigh Lloyd, Ana Sofia Barrera, Abigail Severance, Lana Lubecke, Hannah Yek, and Tongfei Yang.
New study from CCE highlights prior unknown pathway of ocean mercury
CCE graduate students and scientists from the P2107 cruise describe a highly toxic form of mercury as a possible danger to human health via the food chain: Read here.
Zooplankton research: Sample collection, processing, and the end of the cruise
One of the many research subjects aboard the R/V Roger Revelle and one of the many components of CCE-LTER is the study of zooplankton. One of the focuses of the Décima lab out of Scripps Institute of Oceanography is the study of mesozooplankton and more specifically mesozooplankton grazing. What areRead more.