The CCE LTER field sampling includes a grid of stations off the coast of Southern California. The stations are a subset of a larger historical California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigation (CALCOFI) full grid reaching along the Pacific coast of the United States from the tip of Baja to the Columbia River.
The CCE LTER grid contains 66 core stations distributed across six transect lines running offshore (normal) to the coast. The southern line (#93) starts inshore near San Diego reaching 120 nautical miles offshore; the northern line (#77) starts nearshore north of Santa Barbara (south of Point Conception) reaching 100 nautical miles offshore. CalCOFI-CCE sampling occurs four times a year. Physical and biological profiles measurements are made at each station in addition to discrete water bottle sample analyses.
The grid development and how to calculate a grid point location in terms of line and station from its latitude and longitude is described in the paper LE Eber and Roger P Hewitt, 1979. Conversion Algorithms for the CalCOFI Station Grid. CalCOFI Report Vol. 20 (Errata).
