The Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML) is a multi-campus marine research consortium of the

California State University System The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public universi ...

, headquartered at

Moss Landing, California Moss Landing, formerly Moss, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Monterey County, California, United States. It is located north-northeast of Monterey, at an elevation of . It is on the shore of Monterey Bay, at the ...

Organization

Moss Landing Marine Laboratories is part of the

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

, administered by San Jose State University (SJSU), and located in

. The main building is located at 8272 Moss Landing Road, . It was established in 1966. At the midpoint of the coast of

Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area and its major city at the south of the bay, San Jose. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by ...

, it is only a few hundred meters from

Monterey Canyon Monterey Canyon, or Monterey Submarine Canyon, is a submarine canyon in Monterey Bay, California with steep canyon walls measuring a full 1 mile in height from bottom to top, which height/depth rivals the depth of the Grand Canyon itself. It is ...

, the largest

undersea canyon A submarine canyon is a steep-sided valley cut into the seabed of the continental slope, sometimes extending well onto the continental shelf, having nearly vertical walls, and occasionally having canyon wall heights of up to 5 km, from c ...

on the west coast of the Americas. As a result, researchers are able to reach areas with depths greater than 1000 meters in less than an hour by boat from the facility. The facility is a

sea grant college The National Sea Grant College Program is a program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the U.S. Department of Commerce. It is a national network of 34 university-based Sea Grant programs involved in scientific re ...

, which offers a Master's of Science degree in

marine sciences Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

through the seven universities that make up the consortium, as well as offering graduate and undergraduate marine science courses to the students of the campuses. The seven members of the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories consortium are: *

California State University, East Bay California State University, East Bay (Cal State East Bay, CSU East Bay, or CSUEB) is a public university in Hayward, California. The university is part of the 23-campus California State University system and offers 136 undergraduate and 60 pos ...

California State University, Fresno California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bache ...

California State University, Monterey Bay California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB or Cal State Monterey Bay) is a public university in Monterey County, California. Its main campus is located on the site of the former military base Fort Ord, straddling the cities of Seaside and ...

California State University, Sacramento California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...

California State University, Stanislaus California State University, Stanislaus (Stanislaus State, Stan State) is a public university in Turlock, Stanislaus County, California. It is part of the California State University system. It was established in 1957 and is also the only cam ...

Researchers at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories also collaborate with scientists at other institutions in analysis of marine chemistry and marine species. One frequent partner for such collaboration is the Marine Mammal Center.

Research vessels

MLML operates two vessels, the R/V ''John H. Martin'', and the R/V ''Sheila B''.

Sea Grant

Moss Landing Marine Laboratories participates in the

Sea Grant Colleges The National Sea Grant College Program is a program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the U.S. Department of Commerce. It is a national network of 34 university-based Sea Grant programs involved in scientific re ...

program by hosting an office of the UC Sea Grant Extension Program, affiliated with

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

Projects

The Submersible Capable of Under Ice Navigation and Imaging was a

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National ...

funded research project for robotic under the sea ice for surveying and exploration in Antarctica from 2007 through 2009. The Vertical Transport and Exchange of Ocean Particulate program (VERTEX) was initiated by Moss Landing Marine Labs in 1981 by Dr. John Martin. This project resulted in the development of the Iron Iron fertilization theory (then known as the Iron Hypothesis) which stated iron was a limiting factor in ocean water phytoplankton production and its influence for climate change. Dr.Martin was dubbed the nickname "Iron Man" for his role in this discovery.

References

External links