What impact has the massive #ThomasFire in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties had on the nearby ocean? Starting before sunrise yesterday, a team of USC Dornsife Earth science researchers, led by Seth John and Sarah Feakins, sailed along the shore from Oxnard to Santa Barbara to gather samples of air and seawater. Their goal is to learn what effects the ash, charred debris and smoke are having on nutrients and microbial communities in the ocean. 📸s by Sarah Feakins. 🌊Sunrise through the smoke cloud over the Santa Barbara Basin. 🌊Equipment on the vessel filtering air pollution at sea. You can see the smoke clouds and an oil drilling rig in the distance. 🌊The team gathering samples of air and seawater off the shore of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. 🌊Nick Hawco and Paulina Pinedo, postdoctoral researchers in the USC Dornsife Earth Sciences Department, collecting seawater in the Santa Barbara Basin. 🌊Look closely and you can see flecks of ash ‘snowing’ down into the seawater. 🌊T...