Revillagigedo Archipelago, Mexico
October 2022
Expedition Goals and Summary
I led an expedition in October 2022 in collaboration with the S/Y Acadia, Hector Reyes (Autonomous University of Baja California Sur), José Carriquiry (Autonomous University of Baja California), David Paz-García (CIBNOR), and the Revillagigedo National Park Authority, to travel to Socorro and San Benedicto Islands to acquire coral and water samples that will provide us information about the evolution of the northern edge of the Eastern Tropical Pacific ODZ. For this work, we collected coral cores, coral tissue, and seawater samples to understand modern conditions in this area and to better constrain how these conditions may have changed in the past. This sampling mission was extremely successful, collecting coral cores at locations across the Revillagigedo Archipelago that fill in a crucial gap in the historical reconstructions that currently exist for the area. Eventually this work will allow for the reconstruction of the history of the area going back across the 20th century, and will provide key data for modelling future changes in oxygen concentrations across the ETP.
In addition to our coral sampling, we also helped observe the distribution and behavior of charismatic megafauna at the Revillagigedo Archipelago in collaboration with Dr Pelayo Salinas. This effort aimed to further document and expand his work protecting both marine parks across the ETP and the migratory pathways that link this reserve with others (e.g. Isla Del Coco and Galapagos).