As ash fell upon the Reuben Lasker off Manhattan Beach, scientists aboard began investigating the impact of urban fires on marine ecosystems. The Palisades and Eaton fires in Los Angeles led to unprecedented debris entering the ocean, including burned materials from homes, cars, and electronics. This situation presents unique challenges, as these contaminants can greatly alter the ecosystem. CalCOFI, with its long history of marine ecosystem monitoring, is ideally positioned to study these effects, underscoring the importance of ongoing research in understanding how such disasters influence aquatic life.
Unlike the smoke that emanates from rural wildfires, the charred material now entering the ocean is the stuff of people's homes: their cars, their batteries, their electronics.
There's also no team better equipped to understand how the fires that transformed Los Angeles will affect life in the sea. CalCOFI has been monitoring marine ecosystems since 1949.
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