We are excited to share the launch of a new tool to help the public visualize contamination levels and potential risks of illness in the coastal ocean of the San Diego-Tijuana border region. The efforts were a result of a pollution transport experiment that began in 2015. It revealed how nearshore currents near Imperial Beach can transport pollution along the coast. In 2021, the transport experiment was coupled with known sewage sources, which resulted in the first iteration of a coastal ocean, pathogen, and human-illness model. Seeing the value in this work, the State of California awarded Scripps Institution of Oceanography $3 million in 2023 to further advance the pathogen forecast model to what we have today. There are plans to continue improvements, with a phase 2 starting summer of 2026. It will validate the forecast for improved swimmer illness risk - stay tuned.   

Interested? Learn more below

Pictured left to right:  Paula Sylvia - Port of San Diego, Craig Shuman - CA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, Stacee Karnya - City of Los Angeles, and Emily Bockmon - CalPoly San Luis Obispo

Our Joint Strategic Advisory Committee (JSAC) is made up of colleagues that provide guidance to drive the development of decision-making tools and products and serve as ocean observing advocates for public outreach and education efforts. Our JSAC has gained Paula Sylvia, the Program Director of Aquaculture & Blue Economy at the Port of San Diego and Craig Shuman, the California Dept. of Fish & Wildlife - Marine Regional Manager. 

Our Board of  Govenors (BOG) is composed of senior representatives who meet once a year to discuss our structure and vision to provide guidance to our Director, Clarissa Anderson. Our newest members are Emily E. Bockmon, is an Associate Professor of Marine Chemistry at CalPoly SLO and Stacee Karnya, is a Laboratory Manager at City of Los Angeles Environmental Monitoring Division.  Emily leads the Cal Poly Ocean Carbon Lab and specializes in characterizing and understanding the local seawater chemistry. Stacee’s expertise is in environmental chemistry, as it applies to clean water and watershed protection. 

Photos gleaned from Scripps Acoustics Ecology Laboratory website

In collaboration with Scripps Acoustics Ecology Laboratory a new High-frequency Acoustic Recording Package (HARP) was deployed off the coast of Eureka, CA,. Led by PI Simone Baumann-Pickering, the hydrophone that SCCOOS supports provides the ship noise reduction measurements to support the reporting of the environmental benefits of the Blue Whales Blue Skies private-public partnership. 

Thanks to the first round of Infrastructure Investment Jobs Act funding, scientists at University of Southern California replaced a new dome style CODAR Ocean Sensor antenna and router at our Point Fermin site (star on map below) located in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles. These measurements give us Surface Currents, ocean observations that are foundational to oil spill response and recovery, search and rescue, ecosystem management, and much more. 

HFRNet transition is complete!

Starting in 2005 the Coastal Observing Research and Development Center (CORDC) located at Scripps Institution of Oceanography received funding to create an HF Radar data management system, lead the operations and maintenance of 62 HF Radars in California, and manage our national HFR system. It took a team from NOAA IOOS, NOAA NESDIS Office of Common Services, National Data Buoy Center, CORDC, RPS TetraTech, and Axiom Data Science to transition the oceanographic high-frequency radar data assembly center (DAC) to NOAA.

SCCOOS program staff and broader network of scientists and committee members spend countless hours creating content for online outreach campaigns and participating in activities with the intent of increasing awareness of ocean observations. Please consider signing up for our email list. Our bi-monthly On The Horizon plugs you into current opportunities and resources. Our PI Spotlights show the people that make up our team, how ocean observing is done, and the societal benefits they provide.

Below is a highlight of what we have been up to for the past few months.  

Alongside IOOS Association and the 11 regional associations of IOOS, SCCOOS celebrated Ocean Data Day. Leveraging a campaign led by Makenna Martin, SCCOOS’s outreach specialist, inviting the public to dive into the data below the surface - exploring the critical role ocean observing plays in business & commerce, research, and safety for everyone in the United States. Highlighting our involvement in Oil Spill Response and Recovery, Port Operations, Search & Rescue, Sharks, Border Water Quality, and Harmful Algal Bloom Monitoring.