MBNMS
The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary protects the waters off the Central Californian coast against some forms of development and activities which are detrimental to the environment. Near shore underwater canyons are nutrient rich and support abundant wildlife in the Bay, from plankton to whales. The Exploration Center is the hub for displays and outreach programs in the Santa Cruz area
Projects include:
Wildlife observation through BayNet
The first two projects involve analysis by light microscopy. Methods have been developed to observe plankton and plastic contaminants using bright-field microscopy and other forms of illumination.
Picture: MBNMS/NOAA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
World Ocean Day
As part of World Ocean Day 2023, NOAA highlights some contributions from Citizen Scientists, including plankton and microplastic monitoring.
Ocean monitoring
Within the plankton monitoring program, we also monitor physical characteristics of the ocean, such as temperature, salinity and pH.
Poster presented at 2024 Ocean Sciences Meeting, New Orleans.
The pHyter: A Tool Used by Citizen Scientists and Students to Study Coastal Ocean Acidification
Reggie S Spaulding1, James C Beck2, Nicole L. Crane3, Clive R Bagshaw4 and Jane Silberstein4, (1)Sunburst Sensors, Missoula, MT, United States, (2)Sunburst Sensors, Missoula, United States, (3)One People One Reef, Santa Cruz, United States, (4)Cabrillo College, Aptos, United States
