Patterns, transport, and processing of organic and inorganic inputs to coastal reefs

Many oceanographic processes, including upwelling, currents, waves, and water column productivity, control the processing of organic matter, dissolved nutrients, sediment, and pollutants, as well as the transport of these materials to and from the kelp forest ecosystem. We are using a combination of time series measurements at reef sites, satellite observations and high frequency radar measurements of surface currents as well as data from survey cruises over the entire Santa Barbara Channel, to examine the transport of nutrients and other constituents from watersheds and the coastal ocean to the kelp forest ecosystem. The principal goal of these observations is to establish baseline data for determining the relative contributions of different oceanographic processes to the structure and function of kelp forest ecosystems.