So as many of you know, most of my work to date has been on the California Current ecosystem and, in particular, on modeling the ecosystem there. In just a few short days I’ll be heading out from the Scripps pier for a 22 day cruise. The goal for the cruise is to measure the ecosystem extending from the nutrients through the zooplankton and up into some of the higher trophic levels in order to assess the impact of El Nino on the ecosystem. This data will be used in conjunction with ~6 previous CCE cruises in the area (all of which were taken during La Nina years) in order to tease out some of the principle modes of variability within the ecosystem and how their might be changing.
While the cruise planning, the packing, and the leadup certainly deserve more page space than this, it will have to wait. Today is the last day of my semester and there is lots left to do yet.