Media Category: SBC

On the pilings under the rigs, invertebrate life thrives.

Fish congregate under the structure oil rigs provide.

An oil rig in the Santa Barbara Channel.

A research boat flies through the chop.

Happy plants covered in dew from the fog.

Coring for soil samples.

The Fog Collector. It looks like a harp with two perpendicular sets of strings. As fog water condenses on the vertical strings, it drips down into PVC funnels and is collected in a container with mineral oil in it to prevent the water from evaporating.

The SBC-LTER boat is launched via a large hoist on the Goleta Pier

An exceptional day in the Santa Barbara Channel.

Sand hoppers, crustaceans that spend the majority of their lives on the sand, swarm a giant kelp blade. Beached kelp is their main source of nutrition, and less nutritious kelp might have severe repercussions for beach communities.

Kelp wrack, or dead kelp that washes up on beaches, provides important nutrients and habitat to the otherwise barren beach ecosystem.

Giant kelp reaches towards the sky off of Santa Barbara. Kelp forests provide food, habitat, and protection to reef communities and are some of the most biodiverse marine environments on the planet.