Phytoplankton composition is a critical component of aquatic food web structure, societally important fisheries, and human health. This internship will afford exposure to the operation of a continuous observatory for phytoplankton composition, linked with optical observations, at the Graduate School of Oceanography’s (GSO) dock. The coincident optical and particle imagery observations will enable better connection between cell identification and spectral signature used by next generation satellite radiometers for discerning phytoplankton groups.