Bodega Marine Laboratory (BML) operated an oceanographic mooring on the 30m isobath, immediately offshore of the Lab. Deployed in August 2004, the mooring provided data on currents at all depths, seawater temperature, salinity, chlorophyll fluorescence and light transmissivity. The BML mooring went adrift in January of 2008, efforts to deploy a replacement mooring will be finalized in the spring of 2009.

Deployed from 8/2004 - 1/4/2008

BML mooring and buoy data and sensor specifications >

Cordell Bank provides productive habitat for many birds, mammals and fish, rising to within 35 meters of the surface of the ocean from the surrounding deeper waters (image, left). The bank is situated downstream from a major and persistent upwelling center at Point Arena to the north, but is occasionally impacted by outflows that arrive from San Francisco Bay to the south (image, below). Inter-annual and intra-annual variability in the various oceanographic influences can be expected to lead to variability in the productivity of the ecosystem associated with Cordell Bank.

Researchers at the Bodega Marine Laboratory (BML) and the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary collaborated in the design and purchase of the Cordell Bank mooring. The project was funded through the Joint Institute of Marine Observations, a collaborative institute between NOAA and the University of California. The project goals were: (1) to monitor and document physical and biological conditions on the Bank, (2) to increase understanding of the relationship between upwelling / productivity at the Bank and the physical forcing, and (3) to educate the public about oceanic processes, and this valuable Sanctuary in particular. The mooring sensors provided a record of chlorophyll fluorescence, turbidity, water temperature, salinity, and ocean current velocity over the Bank. In combination with the Cordell Bank Oceanographic Monitoring Program (CBOMP) monthly surveys, and the Bodega Ocean Observing Node (BOON) data, including HF radar mapping of surface currents, the mooring measurements will allow for much improved assessment, monitoring and understanding of the essential characteristics of this pelagic habitat. This effort is a component of the Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System (CeNCOOS).

A joint project of the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary and the University of California, Davis, Bodega Marine Laboratory.