Conference White Paper
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Abstract
This white paper synthesizes the findings of the February 2026 symposium, organized around advances in observation, process understanding, hazard assessment, and environmental stewardship. Taken together, the talks describe something rare in the Earth sciences: a coastal-to-deep-ocean system where the density of observations, the continuity of monitoring programs, and the depth of institutional commitment have reached a threshold at which genuinely integrated, process-based understanding becomes possible. The central argument is that Monterey Bay and the central California margin constitute a model system — and that sustained, long-term investment is what turns today's fundamental discoveries into tomorrow's resilience.