Scripps Institution of Oceanography

09/01/2026

🌧️ A new study from Scripps Oceanography's Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E) finds that improved weather and water forecasts could help the state safely increase water storage in existing reservoirs.

The study examines Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations (FIRO), a program co-led by CW3E with state, federal and local water agencies. FIRO uses improved forecasts of atmospheric rivers, precipitation and reservoir inflows to give reservoir operators greater flexibility in deciding when to store or release water.

Across 20 major California reservoirs, researchers estimate FIRO could increase water storage by approximately 315,000 acre-feet, or more than 100 billion gallons, per year. In wet years, gains could approach 500,000 acre-feet, or 162 billion gallons, enough for more than 1 million households.

Under a higher-gain scenario, FIRO could provide nearly 1 million acre-feet of additional water and generate an estimated $460 million annually in direct agricultural and urban benefits.

The findings come as California works toward identifying 9 million acre-feet of additional water supply by 2040.

“Smarter operation of existing reservoirs could make a meaningful contribution,” said lead author and Scripps economist Tom Corringham.

Learn more: https://bit.ly/4qSXs7Z

08/31/2026

🌊If you've spent any time in the ocean off the coast of California, you may have noticed the water feels less refreshing and more like bath water. Data gathered by the Coastal Data Information Program - CDIP is backing this up.

“Long-term buoy records give us the historical perspective to tell the difference between a warm week and a long-term climate signal,” said Randy Bucciarelli, a Programmer Analyst and Technical Liaison with CDIP. “Without decades of consistent observations, we wouldn't have the baseline to understand how this summer compares to what we've seen in the past.”

For example, two long-running CDIP buoys are recording water temperatures about 6°F above normal for this time of year.

📍 Santa Monica Bay: roughly 74°F, which is nearly 6°F above its 26-year average for Aug. 25, setting a new daily record.
📍 Torrey Pines: approximately 77°F, which is also nearly 6°F above its 23-year average.

🌡️ And it's not just a one-day spike. Water temperatures across the summer have averaged about 2°F warmer than normal, with July and August especially warm. NOAA has identified Southern California as being in a marine heatwave since May 2025, with temperatures around 3 to 4°F above normal. These CDIP measurements closely match that broader pattern with 47 daily records set in Santa Monica and 76 records at the Torrey Pines buoy in 2026.

This ocean heat is also driving the humid heatwave impacting Southern California. “That v***r in the coastal zone is going to make conditions more humid,” according to Scripps climate scientist Alexander Gershunov. “That's what's making our heat waves more humid and that's what's keeping temperatures much hotter at night.”

Dive into CDIP data: https://cdip.ucsd.edu/m/stn_table/

08/28/2026

🌎 The Master of Advanced Studies in Climate Science and Policy (MAS CSP) program at Scripps Oceanography is hitting the ground running this summer!

This year’s cohort of 22 graduate students is diving into an intensive seven-week summer session designed to build a strong foundation for the year ahead. Students are getting a broad introduction to the science, data and policy tools needed to understand and help address today’s climate challenges.

Their summer coursework spans atmospheric science, climate math, data analysis, oceanography, climate policy and the energy transition. But learning doesn’t stop at the classroom door. Students visit Scripps labs and explore local San Diego ecosystems, connecting what they’re learning to real-world climate and environmental challenges.

The cohort is also hearing from a lineup of guest experts and taking part in interactive discussions that bring different perspectives and experiences into the mix.

The MAS CSP program prepares students to bridge the gap between climate science and decision-making, giving them the interdisciplinary skills needed to navigate complex climate challenges across science, policy, government, industry and beyond.

It’s a demanding seven weeks, but also an exciting start to their graduate journey. We’re proud of this year’s cohort and can’t wait to see where they take this foundation as they head into fall quarter!

🌊 Stay tuned for more from the cohort, including their coursework, field experiences and projects.

Learn more about the program: https://csp.ucsd.edu/

08/28/2026

🤔What if researchers, policymakers, students, and the public could see all the monitoring programs along the California coast, and the parameters they sample, at a glance? What if they could better understand who is collecting data that can be used to manage, conserve, and study California's water resources, and where these programs operate?

Ten recently graduated UCLA Environmental Science students set out to make that happen, using three key questions as their guide:

1️⃣ What ongoing ocean and coastal monitoring programs operate within 11.6 nautical miles (13.4 miles) of the California coast?
2️⃣ What parameters does each program monitor, and what are its spatial coverage, sampling frequency, and monitoring platforms?
3️⃣ Where do spatial, temporal, and monitoring parameter gaps and overlaps exist within the 11.6-nautical-mile coastal buffer?

The result is the California Ocean & Coastal Monitoring Inventory, an interactive geographic information system map that can be searched by research program, the parameters it collects, and its geospatial coverage over time.

California's coastal monitoring programs include California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI), long-term ecological research programs, wastewater discharge centers, marine protected areas, power plants, beach bacterial monitoring initiatives and many more.

The inventory identified both key strengths and gaps in California's coastal monitoring infrastructure, as well as where efforts to close monitoring gaps could have the greatest impact on human and ecosystem health, fisheries, climate understanding, and the management of our ocean resources.

View the California Ocean & Coastal Monitoring Inventory tool: https://calcofi.io/2026-ucla-cal-ocean-coastal-monitoring-map/

08/27/2026

Congratulations to Scripps Associate Research Scientist Kait Frasier for being tapped as one of 12 recipients of the Office of Naval Research's Chief of Naval Research (CNR) Fellows program!

The one-year CNR fellowship is designed to create a growing network of researchers who can help translate the Navy and Marine Corps’ most pressing challenges into science and technology solutions.

A biological oceanographer and leader of the Scripps Machine Listening Laboratory, she develops underwater listening systems that use specialized underwater microphones to record ocean sounds, providing new insights into whale behavior, marine ecosystems, environmental change, and human activity in the ocean.

Learn more about her work in this research profile: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/scientists-life-kait-frasier

08/25/2026

If you need a laugh and would like the opportunity to learn more about El Niño, this is the video for you!

CNN Weather's Kasha Patel sat down with Marty Ralph, director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at Scripps Oceanography, to chat more about El Niño.

08/25/2026

🌊 🍽️ A discovery supported by Scripps Oceanography researchers is shaking up how scientists understand the ocean's food web.

Scripps Oceanography researchers helped uncover a surprising secret in the Mediterranean Sea: giant chains of phytoplankton!

Using a Scripps-developed glider equipped with a high-tech camera called the “Zooglider,” researchers teamed up with MIO Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography to observe marine life without disturbing it. The team was able to spot phytoplankton chains over 10 millimeters long, which is far larger than anything seen in previous samples.

“This finding shakes up some historical perspectives,” said Scripps biological oceanographer Mark Ohman.

So, how does this discovery impact how scientists understand the ocean's food web? These giant chains are too big for many tiny ocean grazers, known as zooplankton, to eat. Instead, they may sink into the deep ocean, helping move carbon and nutrients through the sea.

Dive into the discovery. ⤵️

A specialized camera allowed researchers to discover large phytoplankton that would have been nearly impossible to detect using conventional methods. The discovery changes how scientists understand the ocean's food web.

08/24/2026

🌏 You’ve heard about it. You (kind of) understand it. You aren’t quite sure what to expect. We’re talking about El Niño and we understand you may have some questions about it, so we asked Scripps Oceanography experts to answer some of your pressing questions!

From impacts to marine life to shifts in weather patterns to what to expect up and down the California Coast, Scripps scientists have you covered: https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/el-nino

If there’s something else you’re curious about, leave us a comment!

🎥 : NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

08/19/2026

🛂 Grab your passports; we’re (virtually) heading to the Great Barrier Reef!

This summer, Scripps Oceanography Assistant Teaching Professor Liz Hetherington led a study abroad opportunity focused on marine biology and ecology in North Queensland, Australia. The five-week program combined two courses—Marine Ecology and Biodiversity and Ocean Conservation, Governance and Global Change—with immersive field experiences across one of the world’s most remarkable marine environments.

The experience, which was offered through UC San Diego’s Global Seminars program, was designed to help students think about marine science not just as something they study, but as a career with many different paths.

“There’s no better way to connect what you learn in class to the natural environment,” Professor Hetherington said. “There’s just no other real replacement for that.”

For Professor Hetherington, the goal was to give students the skills, confidence and experiences to begin figuring out where they fit in the world of marine science.

Students explored what it means to work in field science, analyzed long-term datasets, collected biological data and learned about careers in government, conservation and research. They trained with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s Eye on the Reef citizen science program before heading into the water to conduct reef surveys, explore the connections between rainforest, mangroves and reef ecosystems in the Daintree Rainforest, and even learn about Indigenous approaches to conservation and co-management of the reef.

Some other highlights included visiting numerous sites across the Great Barrier Reef, swimming with manta rays, spotting crocodiles in the Daintree Rainforest and watching four humpback whales breach just offshore while eating lunch on a remote beach.

For Curtis Corzine, a UC San Diego senior majoring in marine biology, the opportunity to gain field experience was a major reason for joining the program.

“There were so many amazing things that we experienced on this trip, such as the expeditions to the Daintree Rainforest and Fitzroy Island,” he said. “However, the field trip to the Orpheus Island Research Station (OIRS) was my favorite by far. At OIRS, we had the opportunity to live how actual researchers would live and conduct field research as part of the Eye on the Reef rapid monitoring program. During our stay, we also had the opportunity to clean the beaches of the island by picking up plastics for the Australian Marine Debris Initiative.”

Students also got a firsthand look at how environmental data can inform management, from understanding changes in reef ecosystems to seeing how marine debris data can help shape policy.

Class dismissed… but we’re pretty sure these students won’t be forgetting this field trip anytime soon! 🎓🤿 And if you missed out this year, don’t worry—the program will return in 2027!

08/18/2026

🤿 Here’s your chance to dive in the iconic La Jolla Cove, no gear required!

As part of his capstone project in the Scripps Oceanography Master of Advanced Studies in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation program, recent graduate Zachary Cabading created an interactive, 360° virtual tour of Matlahuayl State Marine Reserve, also known as the La Jolla Underwater Park.

This stunning stretch of the Pacific Ocean covers the coastline from the area around La Jolla Shores and the San Diego-La Jolla Underwater Park Ecological Reserve to the waters off La Jolla Cove. It includes the Matlahuayl State Marine Reserve — a marine protected area (MPA). MPAs are ocean areas where human activities are managed or restricted to help protect marine ecosystems, habitats and the species that depend on them. California's network of MPAs creates protected underwater spaces along the coast.

Throughout the past year, Zachary and his collaborators completed 36 dives and collected roughly 21 hours of underwater footage, documenting habitats throughout the marine protected area, including kelp forests, rocky reefs, the canyon and an area known as "Sand Dollar Bank." But this project wasn't just about showing people beautiful underwater scenery.

“I wanted to do a project that can help people understand MPAs, give them a spatial understanding of it, help them understand what the habitats are that are protected in the MPA, how those habitats are intertwined and form one ecosystem that needs to be protected as a whole,” he said. “If they're standing at the beach, they can look out at the water and look at any given point and be able to visualize what it looks like underwater at that spot they're looking at.”

The result is a virtual experience where you can move through the underwater landscape, explore different habitats and click into additional information about the ecology and conservation of the MPAs. But perhaps the most exciting part of the project is what comes next.

“I'm hoping we can show other organizations that are in the marine conservation field that this can be a good tool to immerse people in underwater spaces that we're trying to protect,” Zachary said.

The project was intentionally designed to be as replicable, accessible and cost-efficient as possible. For example, an organization working to restore a coral reef could use a smaller-scale virtual tour to take policymakers, funders or community members directly into an impacted underwater site, even if they can't visit it themselves.

“I'd love to keep doing more of these for MPAs up the coast of California, building higher awareness of our California MPA network.”

🌊 Ready to explore? Dive into the La Jolla Underwater Park virtual tour: https://lajollaunderwater.com/