By Scott Gabara

We want to go with the flow when it comes to supplying seawater to Moss Landing Marine Labs.  The incoming water is used for research and husbandry so we keep a close eye on and maintain our seawater intake system.  In efforts to better understand why sand has been building up around our intakes over the years our diving safety officer, Diana Steller, and a new student, Angela Zepp, have started to take cores of the sediment in that area.  We hope to learn more about the sand movement and/or retention from cores by continually taking them and comparing the sediment size over time.  Sand seasonally moves onshore and offshore during the summer and winter seasons, respectively.  We hope to learn why this buildup is occurring over time.