Two moorings outfitted with oceanographic instruments are again positioned at Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary (CBNMS) for the second year in a row after CBNMS staff worked with Bodega Marine Lab scientists to re-deploy the moorings on May 19, 2015 for the spring through fall seasons. Cordell Marine Sanctuary Foundation again provided funding to CBNMS for the project this year and Danielle Lipski, CBNMS Research Coordinator, worked with Dr. John Largier and Matt Robart at Bodega Marine Lab (BML) to build and instrument the moorings. Low oxygen water naturally occurs in the deep ocean but intrusions of hypoxic (meaning “low oxygen”) water has been found in more shallow waters along the US west coast in recent years. Low dissolved oxygen levels had been recorded along the north central California coast for the first time in 2013 by BML and in 2014 CBNMS and BML worked together to place sensors at Cordell Bank to learn if low oxygen water was present at the bank. The bank is inhabited by a vibrant invertebrate and rockfish community which could be vulnerable to hypoxic conditions. Results from 2014 showed that hypoxic or near-hypoxic conditions were recorded at the buoys for about two weeks in June and July following strong winds and upwelling conditions.
Watch the KTVU news video about hypoxia, featuring the deployment of the buoys at Cordell Bank!