SBC LTER: Reef: Bottom Temperature: Continuous water temperature, ongoing since 2000

Giant kelp forests and the organisms living within them are exposed to a variable environment where biotic and abiotic drivers may affect populations and biological processes on the scale of hours to decades. To examine temporal and spatial patterns of temperature in giant kelp forests, SBC has measured ambient water temperature at nine reef sites located along the mainland coast of the Santa Barbara Channel and at two sites on the north side Santa Cruz Island beginning in 2000. Two submersible temperature loggers, sampling every 30 minutes and offset from each other by 15 minutes, are deployed so that data is recorded every 15 minutes at each site. Temperature loggers were retrieved and replaced bi-annually with a new logger, typically in the early summer (June-July) and in early winter (January-March). These temperature loggers measure temperature in water within a range of -20°C to 30°C, and accuracy of ± 0.20°C at 25°C.