Project Description-

• The Santa Barbara Coastal LTER – SBC (Santa Barbara Channel) is part of the National Science Foundation’s Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network. It is located in the coastal zone of southern California near Santa Barbara. It is bounded by the steep, east/west-trending Santa Ynez Mountains and coastal plain to the north and the unique Northern Channel Islands archipelago to the south. Point Conception, where the coast of California returns to a north to south orientation, lies at the western boundary, and the Santa Clara River marks its eastern edge. The site lies on the active boundary of the Pacific Oceanic Plate and the North American Continental Plate. High levels of tectonic activity have created dramatic elevation gradients in both the terrestrial and the underwater landscapes of the site. The Santa Barbara Channel includes some of the deepest ocean basins known on the continental shelf, along with remarkable submarine canyons and escarpments.

Principal Investigators-
University of California, Santa Barbara

Online Information-
Santa Barbara Coastal LTER-SBC
NSF abstract

Funded by the
National Science Foundation

• Giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) is the world’s largest and fastest growing submarine plant. Giant kelp forests occur in the northern and southern hemispheres and are one of the most productive ecosystems in the world. They provide food and shelter for a wide diversity of organisms, many of which have high economic value. The primary research objective of the Santa Barbara Coastal LTER is to investigate the relative importance of land versus ocean processes in structuring giant kelp forest ecosystems for different conditions of land use, climate and ocean influences.