Over the 30-year (and counting) time-series study at Station M, we have seen changes in the biological carbon pump with changing sea surface conditions along the California coast. The abyss is not the invariable environment most people once envisioned. Short-term processes and events can have major impacts on long-term patterns.

Every two hours, the Sedimentation Event Sensor (SES) takes fluorescence readings and a picture of the marine snow (organic materials drifting from the surface to the seafloor) that settled on a slide (at the base of the funnel). With this information, we gain a detailed look into short-term variation in carbon delivery to the abyss.