What's Current in
Ocean and Beaches
On the water and on the sand, our research explores ocean health and evolution so we can better understand how to protect and preserve the largest area of Earth.
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NOAA Satellites
Sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean were already far higher than average by the first week of June 2026 due to El Niño.
El Niño has become more intense over last 40 years than the previous 1,000 years
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Matt Perko
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Matt Perko
Sophia Lecuona Manos, right, is one of several student researchers who discovered a new crab egg predator in the lab of UCSB parasitologist Armand Kuris, left, holding a yellow rock crab.
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Divina Cox
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Matt Perko
Ocean policy issues are front and center on UC Santa Barbara’s coastal campus.
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UC Santa Barbara
Declines in water clarity are a pressing concern for coastal ecosystems.
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J. Morin/ NOAA
Much of the organic carbon sinking into the deep ocean is carried by tiny organic particles known as marine snow.
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Microbes are responsible for much of carbon sequestration in the ocean
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Volunteer taxonomist Gustav Pauly from the Florida Museum of Natural History, left and SBC-LTER lab technician Darrin Ambat on a morning dive to retrieve Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures from the sea floor
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Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente (PROFEPA)
Totoaba poaching continues in the Gulf of California despite a 50-year fishing ban. But farming the fish for export may curb poaching.
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Eutrophication — caused by excessive nutrients, such as fertilizer runoff — causes a bloom of algae that depletes the water of oxygen and causes 'dead zones' that kill fish and other marine organisms