Submitted by: Sean Eckley, Dive Safety Officer – Field Operations, Aquarium of the Pacific
Introduction:
Approximately 23 miles from the Port of Los Angeles sits Santa Catalina Island, part of the southern Channel Islands known for its resort town of Avalon, its history with Hollywood, the Wrigley family, and its world class kelp-forest diving. It is also home to the University of Southern California Wrigley Institute, a marine field station that sits at Big Fisherman’s Cove, just outside Two Harbors, where many researchers have conducted numerous scientific studies on the ecology and environment around Catalina Island. It is at this site that our current oceanographic research project, in partnership with the non-profit organization Catalina Marine Society (CMS), is being conducted.
The Project:
Our studies are to determine the baseline chemical properties and dynamics of the waters off Catalina and how resilient they are to the effects of climate change. CMS is addressing these issues with its long-term monitoring platforms, namely the Dirk Burcham Scientific Mooring and the Jim Updike Seabed Station. Based off USC Wrigley’s deep water mooring 15, from the surface of the water to approximately 100 ft., these platforms have multiple oceanographic instruments deployed at varying depths to collect data on water temperature, pH, tides, currents and other properties. To deploy/retrieve these instruments, Aquarium of the Pacific’s (AoP) volunteer scientific dive team conducts monthly dives on the site to service both platforms and replace the instruments with new ones. The retrieved data are then downloaded and sent to Craig Gelpi, CMS’ chief science officer, for analysis and addition to the long-term data set. The instruments are then prepped for the next outing to be redeployed.
Results:
While the project has been going on for a few years, the overall length of the data series is still relatively short with respect to what is required to discern long-term trends. However, we are beginning to see some really incredible patterns from the collected data (see Figure 1). Interestingly, you can distinctly see the tidal changes and some internal wave action showing up when the data are charted. For the AoP volunteer scientific diver, being able to see these data so quickly after their dives is a huge reward for their efforts on these projects. It has also helped us understand where our current efforts are successful, while also giving us insights into where we may be able to get additional data to flesh out a more detailed and robust data set.
Plans:
The plan for these projects is to continue to collect data for the foreseeable future. Over the next few years, the data collected will be used to answer the project’s questions, as well as be available to other researchers who may be working on a similar field of study. For more information on Catalina Marine Society and its ongoing projects, visit their website: https://www.catalinamarinesociety.org/index.html
The Catalina Marine Society (CMS) is a non-profit organization studying physical and biological dynamics of the marine environment of Santa Catalina Island and the Southern California Bight. As a non-diving entity, CMS has partnered with the Aquarium of the Pacific (AoP) volunteer scientific dive program to assist with and conduct all scientific diving activities for the above projects. Sean Eckley is a member of the CMS Board of Directors. Other scientific institutions that CMS has worked with include the CA Science Center and CA Department of Fish and Wildlife.
