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.