Project partnership

The Ocean Institute (OI) Chlorophyll / Temperature Time Series Project is a unique partnership between CCE LTER and OI designed to extend the CCE outreach program and expand the types of coastal temperature and chlorophyll time series collections for site science. This particular project is a cooperative effort engaging trained staff from OI, CCE scientists and research assistants, outreach coordinators, information managers, program analysts and hundreds of K - 12 students. Students and trained staff from OI participate in active scientific field research aboard one of OI's sampling platforms, the Sea Explorer, a 70-foot floating laboratory. Outfitted with five distinct teaching areas, the Explorer is fully equipped with video microscopes, touch tanks, viewing aquariums, and state-of-the-art electronics. During this floating lab project, students monitor temperature, concentrations of total Chl a and Chl a concentrations larger than 3µm size fraction within the phytoplankton community. Measurements are taken at a depth of 10 m, approximately 2km SSE of the CalCOFI station 90.028. The objective of the OI time series collection is to help characterize the chemical, physical, and biological processes governing the communities of the California Current Ecosystem . Coupled with other biogeochemical measurements monitored in the upper ocean including concentrations of ammonia, dissolved oxygen, dissolved organic carbon, nitrogen and iron, these long-term measurements help scientists understand the processes governing ecosytem variations. Simultaneously, this project acts as a unique test-bed for the development of curricular materials that connect real scientific field work with sound practices in teaching and learning.