Equatorial Pacific (EqPac) moorings
Project Manager: Francisco Chavez
Lead Scientists: Francisco Chavez/Gernot Friederich

Lead Engineer: Kent Headley

MBARI will continue participation in the Equatorial Pacific moorings maintained by the Pacific Marine Environmental Lab (PMEL). Data from these systems suggest a recent regime shift caused by a phase change in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. 

The description and quantification of dynamic changes in the equatorial Pacific would not have been possible without observations from moorings. Since the 1997-98 El Niņo the equatorial Pacific has been unusually cool, perhaps indicating a longer term change. MBARI will continue the equatorial Pacific biological and chemical sensor deployment program to further describe the scales of variability (from days to years) in the sources and sinks of carbon in this important region.