Physical Oceanography and Giant Kelp
in the Santa Barbara Channel

Thursday October 1st, 12-1 pM PT

Jordan Snyder

Jordan Snyder is a 6^th year PhD Candidate in the COAST lab at UCSB. Her work focuses on adapting small Unoccupied Aerial Systems (sUAS, or drones) for physical oceanographic research in coastal waters. She is a Part 107 Certified drone pilot and specializes in flying drones from boats.

Upwelling and internal wave fronts deliver nutrient-rich oceanic bottom water to Giant kelp forests along the coast of the Santa Barbara Channel. This talk will highlight efforts to characterize such physical oceanographic phenomena around kelp ecosystems in the Santa Barbara Channel. We use a suite of oceanographic observing tools to measure these fronts, including thermal infrared drone imagery, in-water thermistors arrays, and acoustics. We estimate the gradient Richarson number, Ri_g, in near-surface waters just outside of the kelp forest to quantify the possibility of turbulence that occurs along these frontal features. At sub-meter spatial and sub-second temporal resolution, these novel methodology provide a 3-dimensional glimpse into the dynamics surrounding giant kelp forests.