The northern california current (NCC) is a dynamic, highly productive region that exhibits strong physical and ecosystem variability on seasonal, interannual and decadal time scales

Driven by seasonal upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water, plankton blooms in the NCC fuel productive offshore and nearshore fisheries and drawdown of atmospheric CO2 and subsequent export of particulate carbon. In recent years, changing ocean conditions have resulted in shifts in plankton community composition with negative impacts on some fisheries through poor food quality and the rise of harmful algal blooms. Warm, oligotrophic waters associated with the pacific decadal oscillation, EL nino, as well as the 2014-16 north pacific marine heatwave were associated with changes in plankton abundance and community composition, poor juvenile salmon survivorship and subsequent returns two years later, delayed or closed fisheries, and economic losses to the commercial salmon and dungeness industries alone exceeding $100M (richerson ET AL. 2018; nmfs, 2016). We have extended the US mbon into the northern california current (NCC), a region that presents unique oceanographic, ecological, and social interactions with marine biodiversity. Building on successful field and synthesis activities conducted during the pandemic, we will advance the science of mbon through additional technologies and research, and create a test-bed in the pacific northwest where elements of the US and global mbons can be harmonized. This will be achieved through the following specific project goals : goal 1) fully integrate mbon NCC US: our remote sensing and integrated plankton methodologies will serve as a regional thematic hub?assisting nodes throughout the pacific and elsewhere. Through working groups, we will coordinate remote sensing and dynamic seascape synthesis across mbon nodes (e.g. kavanaugh ET AL.,2021), and lead syntheses regarding plankton size distributions. We will participate in pace early adopters and share methodological pipelines. Goal 2) CO-create ecosystem indicators derived from observations. Resultant products will build from ongoing interactions with the cciea and contributions to global indicators through geobon?S essential biodiversity variables (EBV; pereira ET AL., 2013) and goos essential ocean variables. This includes an indicator needs assessment workshop and an evaluation of the spatial patterns and trends of ecosystem indicators to address emerging management needs. Goal 3) expand taxonomic resolution of in situ measurements and technological capacity of the mbon continue sampling of multiple trophic levels and size classes using a combination of: hyperspectral BIO-optics, imaging flow cytometer (CYTOBOT), high-resolution in situ ichthyoplankton imaging (ISIIS), the addition of broad sizespectrum laser diffraction, expanded environmental DNA, repeated observations of ocean chemistry, zooplankton, and forage species as part of large -scale NOAA surveys and ifcb, hyperspectral BIO-optics, edna on BI-weekly NH line surveys. Goal 4) conduct novel ecosystem science. We will quantify community composition metrics to multiscale ecosystem functioning including specific growth, grazing, and net ecosystem metabolism. We will evaluate how environmental drivers (e.g., temperature, ocean chemistry, upwelling, shelf width, climate variability) impact biodiversity, size spectra and community indicators identified in goal 2 above; and how together they may affect carbon export, a regionally important ecosystem function. Goal 5) contribute to a community of ecological data science stewardship. Data products (satellite maps, species abundance patterns, indicators) will be ncei/darwin core compliant and will be housed on nanoos with format and frequency informed by the needs assessment. We will contribute to the development of best practices of image classification and fair practices of image data archiving and sharing. Benefits: we anticipate several benefi