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 Grad students involved in 2026 Site Exchange
Graduate students Grace Cawley and Vivian (Lin) Hou were selected as two of seven students by the LTER Network Office as 2026 Site Exchange Fellows. They will both be visiting the Northeast Shelf (NES) site within the next year, with Grace spending time on a research cruise, and Vivian workingRead more.
REUs start their CCE internships at SIO!
June 22nd was the official start date for our six Research Experience for Undergraduates (REUs). They will be working under the mentorship of various CCE PIs, graduate students, and Postdocs for 10-12 weeks in labs at SIO. One student is participating on the CalCOFI cruise (Annette Ramos) the first coupleRead more.
CCE Scientists involved in study which detected man-made chemicals worldwide in the ocean
Several CCE members in Lihini Aluwihare’s lab at Scripps Oceanography, along with researchers from UC Riverside, found mostly industrial chemicals in over 2,300 ocean water samples taken from all over the world. Read more about their research findings here. You can find the full published manuscript in the journal NatureRead more.
CCE members attend OSM 2026
CCE members travelled to Glasgow, Scotland, to attend the Ocean Sciences Meeting (22-27 Feb.), presenting various talks and posters related to CCE process studies, time series and modeling. Grad student Grace Cawley (pictured here) presented her research entitled: “Patterns of pyrosome occurrence and community interactions in the California Current Ecosystem”Read more.
2026 LTER site exchange opportunities
The LTER Network Office is now accepting applications for site exchanges in 2026. If you are a student, researcher, or staff member of an LTER site, please read about the opportunities here. Deadline for applications is 16 March, 2026