Media Category: SBC

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.