Scripps Institute Of Oceanography
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) is the center for
oceanography Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of to ...
and
Earth science Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...
at the
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...
. Its main campus is located in
La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood in San Diego, California, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. The climate is mild, with an average daily temperature o ...
, with additional facilities in
Point Loma Point Loma ( Spanish: ''Punta de la Loma'', meaning "Hill Point"; Kumeyaay: ''Amat Kunyily'', meaning "Black Earth") is a seaside community in San Diego, California, United States. Geographically it is a hilly peninsula that is bordered on the ...
. Founded in 1903 and incorporated into the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...
system in 1912, the institution has since broadened its research focus to encompass the physics, chemistry, geology, biology, and climate of the Earth. The institution awards the
Nierenberg Prize The Nierenberg Prize for Science in the Public Interest is given annually by Scripps Institution of Oceanography. It was created through a gift of the family to honor the memory of William Nierenberg. The prize includes a bronze medal and $25,000 ...
annually to recognize researchers with exceptional contributions to science in public interest.


History


Founding

Scripps Institution of Oceanography can trace its beginnings back to William Ritter, a
biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...
originally from
Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
. In 1891, Ritter was offered a job teaching biology at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
and married Mary Bennett. Their honeymoon and subsequent biological studies took them to
San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
, where Ritter met a local physician and naturalist, Fred Baker, who would later encourage him to build a marine biological laboratory in San Diego. Ritter searched for eleven years for an appropriate place for a permanent marine biological laboratory. He spent summers at various places along the coast with students. His goal was frustrated by lack of money and lack of an appropriate place. During this time, research was being conducted at the boathouse of
Hotel del Coronado The Hotel del Coronado, also known as The Del and Hotel Del, is a historic beachfront hotel in Coronado, California, just across San Diego Bay from San Diego. A rare surviving example of an American architectural genre—the wooden Victorian be ...
on
San Diego Bay San Diego Bay is a natural harbor and deepwater port in San Diego County, California, near the Mexico–United States border. The bay, which is long and wide, is the third largest of the three large, protected natural bays on California's of ...
. In 1903, Ritter was introduced to newspaper magnate E. W. Scripps. Together with Scripps' half-sister
Ellen Browning Scripps Ellen Browning Scripps (October 18, 1836 – August 3, 1932) was an American journalist and philanthropist who was the founding donor of several major institutions in Southern California. She and her half-brother E. W. Scripps, E.W. Scripps creat ...
and Baker, they formed the Marine Biological Association of San Diego with Ritter as the Scientific Director. They fully funded the institution for its first decade. E. W. Scripps gave the biological association the use of his yacht, the ''Loma'', in 1904 and served as the first research vessel in the history of the institution. In 1905, they moved to a small laboratory in
La Jolla Cove La Jolla Cove is a small cove with a beach that is surrounded by cliffs in La Jolla, a community of San Diego, California. Point La Jolla forms the south side of the cove. The area is protected as part of a marine reserve and is popular with sn ...
until they arranged for the purchase of a site in La Jolla, north of San Diego. The land was purchased for $1,000 at a
public auction A government auction or a public auction is an auction held on behalf of a government in which the property to be auctioned is either property owned by the government or property which is sold under the authority of a court of law or a governmen ...
from the city of San Diego (the same site where the SIO main campus is today). However, construction cost estimates for a permeant building were around $50,000. Funding was secured through E. W. and E. B. Scripps, and the first permanent building (today known as the
Old Scripps Building The George H. Scripps Memorial Marine Biological Laboratory, known as the Old Scripps Building, is a historic research facility on the campus of the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, California. Built in 1909-10, it is the oldest o ...
) was constructed in 1910. The Marine Biological Association's first seafaring vessel, the ''Loma'', would run aground in
Point Loma Point Loma ( Spanish: ''Punta de la Loma'', meaning "Hill Point"; Kumeyaay: ''Amat Kunyily'', meaning "Black Earth") is a seaside community in San Diego, California, United States. Geographically it is a hilly peninsula that is bordered on the ...
in 1906 and prompted the search for a new one. With funds secured from Ellen Browning Scripps, the association was able to have a ship built by Lawrence Jensen strictly for oceanographic research - among the first for an American nongovernmental institution. The new vessel was acquired on April 21st, 1907 and was named the ''
Alexander Agassiz Alexander Emmanuel Rodolphe Agassiz (December 17, 1835March 27, 1910), son of Louis Agassiz and stepson of Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz, was an American scientist and engineer. Biography Agassiz was born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and immigrated t ...
'' after the Harvard biologist who had visited in 1905. The 85-foot ''Alexander Agassiz'', a sailing vessel with twin gasoline engines, served the institution for ten years. In 1912, the Biological Association became incorporated into the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...
and was renamed the Scripps Institution for Biological Research. The first iteration of Scripps Pier, along with other buildings, was approved for construction in 1913, but was only completed in 1916 due to delays related to
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. In 1915, the first building devoted solely to an aquarium was built on the Scripps campus. The small, wooden structure contained 19 tanks ranging in size from . The oceanographic museum was located in a nearby building. Since the pier was completed in 1916, measurements have been taken daily. The modern Scripps Pier was built as a replacement for the 1916 structure in 1988. The institution's name changed to Scripps Institution of Oceanography (often shortened to just SIO) in October of 1925 to recognize the growing faculty's widened range of studies.
Easter Ellen Cupp Easter Ellen Cupp (March 30, 1904 – August 27, 1999) was the first woman to get a Ph.D. in oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She is known for her work on diatoms. Early life Cupp was born on March 30, 1904, which was th ...
would be the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in oceanography from SIO in 1934, studying
diatoms A diatom (Neo-Latin ''diatoma'') is any member of a large group comprising several Genus, genera of algae, specifically microalgae, found in the oceans, waterways and soils of the world. Living diatoms make up a significant portion of Earth's B ...
under Wynfred Allen. She would stay with Scripps until 1939. In 1935, SIO director T. Wayland Vaughan was the first Scripps member to be awarded the Alexander Agassiz Medal by the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
. Harald Sverdrup would be awarded the medal 3 years later, beginning a long history of Scripps oceanographers being awarded the prize (Johnson in 1959, Revelle in 1963, and many more). In November, 1936, the research vessel ''Scripps'' was sunk when there was an explosion in the galley, killing the cook and injuring the captain. The sinking of the ''Scripps'' left SIO without a research vessel, so SIO director Sverdrup approached the UC president
Robert Gordon Sproul Robert Gordon Sproul ( ; May 22, 1891 – September 10, 1975) was the first system-wide president (1952–1958) of the University of California system, and a president (11th) of the University of California, Berkeley, serving from 1930 to 195 ...
and Bob Scripps (son of E.W and Ellen) to acquire a new one. They found Bob's pleasure yacht, ''Novia Del Mar'', ill-fitting for the science roles performed by the ''Scripps'', and purchased a different yacht from actor
Lewis Stone Lewis Shepard Stone (November 15, 1879 – September 12, 1953) was an American film actor. He spent 29 years as a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was best known for his portrayal of Judge James Hardy in the studio's popular '' Andy ...
in April 1937. The ''Serena'' was rechristened ''E. W. Scripps'' and was presented to SIO in December 1937. The ''E. W. Scripps'' would be quintessential for Sverdrup to build datasets supporting simple theories of ocean circulation, including the
Sverdrup balance The Sverdrup balance, or Sverdrup relation, is a theoretical relationship between the wind stress exerted on the surface of the open ocean and the vertically integrated meridional (north-south) transport of ocean water. History Aside from the ...
.


Wartime

When World War II broke out Scripps created the University of California Division of War Research (UCDWR) in Point Loma, focusing on acoustics and waves to support the US Navy. Collaborative research between the UCDWR and the Navy led to the discovery of the
deep scattering layer The deep scattering layer, sometimes referred to as the sound scattering layer, is a layer in the ocean consisting of a variety of marine animals. It was discovered through the use of sonar, as ships found a layer that scattered the sound and w ...
, a region from 300 - 500 m deep filled with organisms. The UCDWR would continue to research sound beacons and
sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...
until being absorbed into the
Navy Electronics Laboratory The U.S. Navy Electronics Laboratory (NEL) was created in 1945, with consolidation of the naval radio station, radar operators training school, and radio security activity of the Navy Radio and Sound Lab (NRSL) and its wartime partner, the Univers ...
and Scripps Marine Physical Laboratory between 1945 and 1948. With Harald Sverdrup as the SIO director, recent graduate student
Walter Munk Walter Heinrich Munk (October 19, 1917 – February 8, 2019) was an American physical oceanographer. He was one of the first scientists to bring statistical methods to the analysis of oceanographic data. Munk worked on a wide range of topics, i ...
was recalled from the army and together they were tasked with aiding Allied amphibious landings off the coast of Africa. The goal was to predict coastal surf and sea state for Allied landings in Africa, though their model was also applied to the Allied landings in Normandy,
Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
, and in the Pacific. SIO's UCDWR would train over 200 American and British military officers on swell forecasting techniques throughout the war. Though Sverdrup was initially intending on holding the position of SIO director for only 3 years until 1939,
Nazi occupation of Norway The occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany during the World War II, Second World War began on 9 April 1940 after Operation Weserübung. Conventional armed resistance to the Norwegian Campaign, German invasion ended on 10 June 1940, and Nazi G ...
prolonged his assumption of the role until 1948. Though Sverdrup's family became US citizens during the war, he struggled with Navy clearance which gave him an awkward relationship to the projects he was overseeing. Wartime changed the funding dynamic for Scripps. Prior to the war, the only federal support for SIO came from the Navy seeking to protect the hulls of their ships. Threatened by German submarines, concepts within physical oceanography were researched for
submarine warfare Submarine warfare is one of the four divisions of underwater warfare, the others being anti-submarine warfare, Naval mine, mine warfare and Naval mine, mine countermeasures. Submarine warfare consists primarily of Diesel engine, diesel and nu ...
. By summer 1942,
Roger Revelle Roger Randall Dougan Revelle (March 7, 1909 – July 15, 1991) was a scientist and scholar who was instrumental in the formative years of the University of California, San Diego, and was among the early scientists to study anthropogenic global ...
was appointed as a Navy liaison for oceanography and the sonar head of the Navy Bureau of Ships. UCDWR research led to rapid development of
bathythermograph The bathythermograph, or BT, also known as the Mechanical Bathythermograph, or MBT; is a device that holds a temperature sensor and a transducer to detect changes in water temperature versus depth down to a depth of approximately 285 meters (93 ...
s, as well as the understanding of the
thermocline A thermocline (also known as the thermal layer or the metalimnion in lakes) is a distinct layer based on temperature within a large body of fluid (e.g. water, as in an ocean or lake; or air, e.g. an atmosphere) with a high gradient of distinct te ...
and benthic sediments in the context of underwater warfare. Research on
biofouling Biofouling or biological fouling is the accumulation of microorganisms, plants, algae, or small animals where it is not wanted on surfaces such as ship and submarine hulls, devices such as water inlets, pipework, grates, ponds, and rivers that ...
organisms were led by Dennis Fox and Claude ZoBell, with the goal to develop biological deterrents for seaplanes and vessels. It was during 1942 that Sverdrup, along with Martin Johnson and Richard Fleming, completed the first comprehensive textbook of oceanography, ''The Oceans''. The textbook was considered a first of its kind and of such military importance that it was forbidden from distribution outside of the United States. SIO's first
scientific diver Professional diving is underwater diving where the divers are paid for their work. Occupational diving has a similar meaning and applications. The procedures are often regulated by legislation and codes of practice as it is an inherently hazar ...
was biologist Cheng Kwai Tseng, who used equipment to collect algae off the coast of San Diego in 1944. Tseng took red algae samples of Gelidium cartilagineum and cultured them to reduce the US dependence on Japanese
agar Agar ( or ), or agar-agar, is a jelly-like substance consisting of polysaccharides obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from " ogonori" and " tengusa". As found in nature, agar is a mixture of two components, t ...
, which was important to hospitals at the time.


The Golden Age of Oceanography

Following the war,
Roger Revelle Roger Randall Dougan Revelle (March 7, 1909 – July 15, 1991) was a scientist and scholar who was instrumental in the formative years of the University of California, San Diego, and was among the early scientists to study anthropogenic global ...
continued to act as a liaison for oceanographers and was consulted during
Operation Crossroads Operation Crossroads was a pair of nuclear weapon tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in mid-1946. They were the first nuclear weapon tests since Trinity on July 16, 1945, and the first detonations of nuclear devices sinc ...
in 1945. He noted significant difficulties during the project, stemming from the difficulty of civilian research to access naval research vessels and naval bureaucracy. To remedy this, Revelle championed joint research of the newly-established
Office of Naval Research The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is an organization within the United States Department of the Navy responsible for the science and technology programs of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Established by Congress in 1946, its mission is to plan ...
(ONR), the US Hydrographic Office, and Navy Bureau of Ships and Scripps was receiving around $900,000 annually from federal funding. The Navy bestowed the operation of a number of vessels to SIO ushering in a "Golden Age" of oceanographic research and discoveries. Between 1947 and 1949 three post-war vessels were acquired and modified for scientific research: The ''Crest'', ''Paolina-T'', and . These vessels, combined with the overlap of expertise from the ONR in 1946, provided additional resources for ocean exploration. The three new vessels were put to work on the new Marine Life Research Program in 1950 (now
CalCOFI CalCOFI (California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations) is a multi-agency partnership formed in 1949 to investigate the collapse of the sardine population off California. The organization's members are from NOAA Fisheries Service, Scrip ...
), which sought to investigate the collapse of the California sardine population. In doing so, approximately of ocean would need to be surveyed. When Aqua-Lung was made available in the US in 1948,
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
graduates Conrad Limbaugh and Andy Rechnitzer were able to convince Boyd W. Walker, their marine biology advisor at the time, to purchase one. Together, they introduced the Aqua-Lung to SIO in 1950 (with Limbaugh studying under Carl Hubbs) and began the Scripps Diving Program. Roger Revelle took over the director role at SIO in 1951 from Carl Eckart and, following a diving fatality at La Jolla in 1950, requested that Limbaugh develop a
scuba Scuba, originally SCUBA, often expanded to scuba set, is any self contained underwater breathing apparatus, a source of breathing gas used for underwater diving which is carried by the diver. Scuba may also refer to: * Scuba diving, swimming unde ...
training program for SIO, which debuted in 1951 and was heavily influenced by practices of the U.S. Navy's
Underwater Demolition Team The Underwater Demolition Team (UDT), or frogmen, were amphibious units created by the United States Navy during World War II with specialized missions. They were predecessors of the Navy's current United States Navy SEAL, SEAL teams. Their pri ...
. It was also during this time that
Hugh Bradner Hugh Bradner (November 5, 1915 – May 5, 2008) was an American physicist at the University of California, Berkeley, University of California who is credited with inventing the neoprene wetsuit, which helped to revolutionize scuba diving and sur ...
, a physicist at
UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...
, became an advisor at SIO and developed the
wetsuit A wetsuit is a garment worn to provide thermal protection while wet. It is usually made of foamed neoprene, and is worn by surfers, divers, windsurfers, canoeists, and others engaged in water sports and other activities in or on the water. ...
in 1952. Bradner would go on to become a professor at SIO's Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics in 1961. The SIO Diving Program would continue to innovate and expand up to more than 160 affiliated divers in 2015. The Vaughan Aquarium-Museum opened at the University's Charter Day in March 1951 to replace the prior aquarium, which had been in a consistent state of disrepair since at least 1925. Named to honor former institution director T. Wayland Vaughan, museum curator Percy S. Barnhart planned a replacement up until his retirement in 1946, passing the project along to Sam Hinton. Hinton would go on to collect specimens aboard the ''E. W. Scripps'' until the building was completed and occupied in 1950. While nearly three times the size of the previous aquarium, the building also housed the director's offices on the second floor and the preserved specimens in the basement. The seawater supply from Scripps Pier was renovated in 1964 to increase capacity and improve
filtration Filtration is a physical separation process that separates solid matter and fluid from a mixture using a ''filter medium'' that has a complex structure through which only the fluid can pass. Solid particles that cannot pass through the filte ...
. In 1959, an additional administration building was constructed next to the original 1910 building, named the "New Scripps" building. Campus construction expanded with the completion of the Sumner Auditorium and Sverdrup Hall in 1960. Scripps Institution of Oceanography director Revelle spearheaded the formation of the University of California, San Diego in 1960 on a bluff overlooking the Scripps Institution, with SIO acting as the nucleus. It was during the 1960s that SIO led the development of the Deep-Tow system, with oceanographer Fred Spiess as the lead of the Marine Physical Laboratory. The purpose was to map the oceans, most notably being used in
Project FAMOUS Project FAMOUS (French-American Mid-Ocean Undersea Study) was the first-ever marine scientific exploration by manned submersibles of a diverging Plate tectonics, tectonic plate boundary on a mid-ocean ridge. It took place between 1971 and 1974, w ...
between 1971 and 1974. In 1965, Scripps began leasing of land in Point Loma to tie up research vessels, including the RP ''Flip'' (launched in 1962), from the US Navy. The navy gave this land to Scripps in 1975 and the facility was named the Nimitz Marine Facility (or MarFac) after
Chester Nimitz Chester William Nimitz (; 24 February 1885 – 20 February 1966) was a Fleet admiral (United States), fleet admiral in the United States Navy. He played a major role in the naval history of World War II as Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Co ...
. Also in 1965, Scripps assisted the Navy with the
SEALAB SEALAB I, II, and III were experimental underwater habitats developed and deployed by the United States Navy during the 1960s to prove the viability of saturation diving and humans living in isolation for extended periods of time. The knowledge ...
project, where divers dwelled in a submersible habitat at in the nearby
Scripps Canyon Scripps Canyon is a narrow submarine canyon in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Southern California, United States. The canyon is approximately long and joins La Jolla Canyon offshore. Scripps Canyon is a popular site for scientific and re ...
for 15 days at a time. On October 25, 1973, ''California Sea Grant'' became a college (
National Sea Grant College Program The National Sea Grant College Program is a program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the U.S. Department of Commerce. It is a national network of 34 university-based Sea Grant programs involved in scientific ...
) administered by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the
University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...
. From March to May of 1979, SIO directed the
RISE project The RISE Project (Rivera Submersible Experiments) was a 1979 international marine research project which mapped and investigated seafloor spreading in the Pacific Ocean, at the crest of the East Pacific Rise (EPR) at 21° north latitude. Using a ...
and oversaw the 1979 discovery of black smoker
hydrothermal vent Hydrothermal vents are fissures on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hot ...
s at the
East Pacific Rise The East Pacific Rise (EPR) is a mid-ocean rise (usually termed an oceanic rise and not a mid-ocean ridge due to its higher rate of spreading that results in less elevation increase and more regular terrain), at a divergent tectonic plate bound ...
.


International projects and modern history

The
Old Scripps Building The George H. Scripps Memorial Marine Biological Laboratory, known as the Old Scripps Building, is a historic research facility on the campus of the University of California, San Diego in La Jolla, California. Built in 1909-10, it is the oldest o ...
, designed by
Irving Gill Irving John Gill (April 26, 1870 – October 7, 1936), was an American architect, known professionally as Irving J. Gill. He did most of his work in Southern California, especially in San Diego and Los Angeles. He is considered a pioneer of the ...
, was declared a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...
in 1982. and   Architect
Barton Myers Barton Myers (born November 6, 1934) is an American architect and president of Barton Myers Associates Inc. in Santa Barbara, California. With a career spanning more than 40 years, Myers is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects and wa ...
designed the current Scripps Building for the Institution of Oceanography in 1998. In 2007, the family and wife of late Roger Revelle donated 2.5 million dollars toward the Roger Revelle Chair endowed position, which Shang-Ping Xie now holds. In 2014, SIO received a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to test the use of biofuels on one of its ships, the . The vessel operated from September 2014 to December 2015 on 100% biofuels which reduced
nitrous oxide Nitrous oxide (dinitrogen oxide or dinitrogen monoxide), commonly known as laughing gas, nitrous, or factitious air, among others, is a chemical compound, an Nitrogen oxide, oxide of nitrogen with the Chemical formula, formula . At room te ...
emissions, but increased particle emissions. However, the fuel source provided a proof of concept that research operations could be completed using biofuels rather than conventional diesel. Also, 2014 was the first year of cruises for the international GO-SHIP program, a repeat hydrography program focusing on straight transects across major ocean basins and a follow-up to the
World Ocean Circulation Experiment The World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) was a component of the international World Climate Research Program, and aimed to establish the role of the World Ocean in the Earth's climate system. WOCE's field phase ran between 1990 and 1998, and ...
, which ran until 2002. Scripps, along with NOAA as the sole American members of the science committee, has overseen and advised many expeditions to contribute to the global data set. In 2019, Scripps received $1.2 million of philanthropic funding for a research vessel, named after John Beyster and his wife Betty. Though the vessel was secured in spring of 2019, plans for the vessel's acquisition began in 2017. From January to May of 2019, SIO directed a study at
Imperial Beach Imperial Beach is a beach city in San Diego County, California, United States, with a population of 26,137 as of the 2020 census. It is in the South Bay area of San Diego County, south of downtown San Diego and northwest of downtown Tiju ...
to collect samples of sewage pollution from the
Tijuana River The Tijuana River () is an intermittent river, 120 mi (195 km) long, near the Pacific coast of northern Baja California state in northwestern Mexico and Southern California in the western United States. The river is heavily polluted wi ...
and found elevated levels of harmful bacteria and aerosols. In 2024, Scripps was added to a task force including researchers from
San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...
and regional doctors to better understand health impacts from the pollution. While collecting samples later in 2024, the task force had to evacuate the area due to elevated levels of toxic gases. A campus report was published in 2022 describing campus lab, office, and storage spaces and found that women make up 26% of research scientists at SIO, yet occupy 17% of the space. The report highlighted that
emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...
faculty on campus are 86% male and hold nearly 25% of all space at SIO.


2023 graduate protests

In May 2023, the Scripps campus in La Jolla opened the Ted and Jean Scripps Marine Conservation and Technology Facility. The building required the razing of three older buildings originally constructed in 1963 and reinforcing of the nearby hillside in 2014. A month later, the building was vandalized in a protest against low graduate student wages. In June 2023, two SIO students and one recent graduate were arrested at their homes by University of California Police and held in custody overnight. The University alleged $12,000 in damages related to this incident. Union leadership in UAW 2865 and 5810, the local union chapters representing the arrested workers, accuse the University of California of retaliation and reneging on the contracts signed at the conclusion of the 2022 UC academic workers' strike. On July 10, 2023, hundreds of protesters gathered at San Diego's Central Courthouse to protest the arrests, however in a written statement the San Diego District Attorney's office said the arraignment would not move forward because the case had not been submitted to its office for review. However, university officials have up to three years to file charges. On July 18, 2023, UCPD obtained a warrant and searched a fourth student's house for evidence of chalk or union affiliation in relation to the May 30 incident.


Campus


Main campus

The SIO main campus is located in
La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood in San Diego, California, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. The climate is mild, with an average daily temperature o ...
, situated between
La Jolla Shores La Jolla Shores, with its northern part Scripps Beach, is a beach and vacation/residential community of the same name in the community of La Jolla in San Diego, California. The La Jolla Shores business district is a mixed-use village encircling L ...
and
Black's Beach Black's Beach is a secluded section of beach beneath the bluffs of Torrey Pines on the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla, a community of San Diego, California. It is officially part of Torrey Pines State Beach. The northern portion of Black's Beach i ...
. La Jolla Shores Drive provides access to greater La Jolla to the south, while continuing north through campus to the main UC San Diego campus. Mass transit service to the main campus is handled by MTS line 30 (coming every 15 minutes) and UC San Diego's SIO bus route (every 10 minutes). Route 30 has stops exclusively on La Jolla Shores Drive, heading north to UTC Transit Center and south to
Old Town Transit Center Old Town Transit Center, also known as San Diego–Old Town station, or Old Town San Diego station, is an intermodal transportation station in the Old Town neighborhood of San Diego, California. It is served by Amtrak's ''Pacific Surfliner'', t ...
. The SIO route offers more comprehensive coverage of campus grounds, starting in Pawka Green, then La Jolla Shores Drive, Shellback Way, Birch Aquarium, and then north to Gilman Transit Center at UCSD's main campus. Three sites on campus (the Seaside Forum, the Martin Johnson House, and Birch Aquarium) are available to the general public for rental.


Biological Grade

Biological Grade is the street running North to South parallel to La Jolla Shores drive, connecting a number of laboratories, libraries, and research halls. It was built between 1910 and 1912 with the original Old Scripps Building and was part of the main highway between San Diego and Los Angeles. As the campus grew, La Jolla Shores Drive was constructed to reroute through traffic for automobiles. Biological Grade connects to Shellback Way on the other side of La Jolla Shores Drive via the La Jolla Shores Pedestrian Bridge (also known as Scripps Crossing), erected in 1993. The Scripps Coastal Meander trail (part of the
California Coastal Trail The California Coastal Trail, or CCT, is an environmental project by the California Coastal Conservancy, an organization developed to enhance coastal resources and promote access to the shore in 2001. The trail is designed to connect the e ...
) starts at the northern end of Biological Grade and connects to other trails, eventually terminating at Black's Beach.


Pawka Green and Naga Way

South of Biological Grade is the Pawka Green, named after Steven Pawka. The bordering Naga Way separates the labs from Biological Grade from the halls around Pawka Green, which are more oriented towards administration and instruction. The Naga Way street is named after the Naga Expedition, which took place in 1959 studying the Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea.


Shellback Way

Shellback Way connects a series of halls and labs on the east side of La Jolla Shores Drive, with greater emphasis on atmospheric science and fisheries. It connects to Biological Grade via the La Jolla Shores Pedestrian Bridge. Shellback Way is named after the Shellback Expedition which studied the deep Pacific off the coast of Peru, running from May to August 1952.


Downwind Way

Downwind Way connects La Jolla Shores Drive to Expedition Way, providing access to the rest of UCSD. This section of campus includes campus storage and facilities, Birch Aquarium, and Deep Sea Drilling Program. It is named after the first of three International Geophisical Year cruises, taking place from October 1957 to February 1958.


Campus flora and fauna

The main campus in La Jolla is situated next to the
San Diego-Scripps Coastal Marine Conservation Area San Diego-Scripps Coastal Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) and Matlahuayl State Marine Reserve (SMR) are adjoining marine protected areas that extend offshore from La Jolla in San Diego County on California's south coast. The two marine protected ...
as well as
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve is a coastal state park in San Diego, California. The reserve is one of the wildest stretches of land on the Southern California coast, covering . It is bordered immediately to the south by Torrey Pines Golf Co ...
. The coastal
chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant plant community, community found primarily in California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. It is shaped by a Mediterranean climate (mild wet winters and hot dry summers) and infrequent, high-intens ...
biome A biome () is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. In 1935, Tansley added the ...
has many plants also seen in the Torrey Pines reserve, such as
lemonade berry ''Rhus integrifolia'', also known as lemonade sumac, lemonade berry, or lemonadeberry, is a shrub to small tree in the sumac genus ''Rhus''. It is native to the Transverse and Peninsular Ranges and the South Coast regions of Southern California. ...
,
wild cucumber Wild cucumber may refer to: * Armenian cucumber, a melon which when pickled is sold as "pickled wild cucumber" in Middle Eastern markets * ''Cucumis sativus'' var. ''hardwickii'', the wild ancestors of modern domesticated cucumbers (''Cucumis sativ ...
, coast spice bush, California sunflower,
California buckwheat ''Eriogonum fasciculatum'' is a species of wild buckwheat known by the common names California buckwheat and flat-topped buckwheat. Characterized by small, white and pink flower clusters that give off a cottony effect, this species grows vari ...
, and bladderpod. Seabirds are a common sight near the campus, particularly
seagulls Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed ...
,
pelicans Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...
,
plover Plovers ( , ) are members of a widely distributed group of wader, wading birds of subfamily Charadriinae. The term "plover" applies to all the members of the subfamily, though only about half of them include it in their name. Species lis ...
s,
egret Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build ...
s, and
osprey The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It ...
.
Peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, Corvus (genus), cro ...
s are also known to nest in the bluffs at the north end of campus.


= Marine life

= Marine life from La Jolla Shores to Black's Beach can be seen very shallow, making
snorkeling Snorkeling (American and British English spelling differences#Doubled in British English, British and Commonwealth English spelling: snorkelling) is the practice of human swimming, swimming face down on or through a body of water while breathing ...
a popular activity. Marine organisms include
leopard shark The leopard shark (''Triakis semifasciata'') is a species of houndshark, in the family (biology), family Houndshark, Triakidae. It is found along the Pacific coast of North America, from the U.S. state of Oregon to Mazatlán in Mexico. Typically ...
s,
Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as (). In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as () or (). 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. H ...
,
shovelnose guitarfish The shovelnose guitarfish (''Pseudobatos productus'') is a ray in the family Rhinobatidae. ''P. productus'' was first described by ichthyologist William Orville Ayre in 1854 as ''Rhinobatos productus'', with the genus derived from the Greek wo ...
, round stingrays, and
thornback ray The thornback ray (''Raja clavata''), or thornback skate, is a species of ray (fish), ray fish in the family Rajidae. Distribution The Thornback ray is found in the Atlantic coastal waters of Europe and western Africa. It is also present from ...
s. Due to the high concentration of stingrays, locals practice the "stingray shuffle" to help avoid being stung. Connecting to La Jolla Canyon,
Scripps Canyon Scripps Canyon is a narrow submarine canyon in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Southern California, United States. The canyon is approximately long and joins La Jolla Canyon offshore. Scripps Canyon is a popular site for scientific and re ...
is a popular spot for divers and marine research. Common fish within the canyon are species of
poacher Poaching is the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set against the hunti ...
, sole,
rockfish Rockfish is a common term for several species of fish, referring to their tendency to hide among rocks. The name rockfish is used for many kinds of fish used for food. This common name belongs to several groups that are not closely related, and ca ...
, and
lizardfish The Synodontidae or lizardfishes(or typical lizardfish to distinguish them from the Bathysauridae and Pseudotrichonotidae) are benthic (bottom-dwelling) marine and estuarine bony fishes that belong to the aulopiform fish order, a diverse grou ...
.


Nimitz Marine Facility

The Nimitz Marine Facility is the home port of all SIO research vessels and is accessible by land via Rosecrans Street in Point Loma. The facility is serviced hourly by bus route 84 of the San Diego MTS, running from the Navy Base to Shelter Island and
Cabrillo National Monument Cabrillo National Monument () is a U.S. national monument at the southern tip of the Point Loma peninsula in San Diego, California. It commemorates the landing of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542. This event mark ...
. The facility borders the Point Loma Navy Base, operated by the NIWC. As of 2008, a TWIC card is required for access to the waterfront at MarFac as required by the
United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...
. Buildings at the Nimitz Marine Facility are numbered in increasing order from the waterfront approaching Rosecrans Street.


Research programs

The institution's research programs encompass biological, physical, chemical, geological, and geophysical studies of the oceans and land. Scripps also studies the interaction of the oceans with both the atmospheric climate and environmental concerns on ''terra firma.'' Related to this research, Scripps offers undergraduate and graduate degrees. Today, the Scripps staff of 1,300 includes approximately 235 faculty, 180 other scientists and some 350
graduate students Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor' ...
, with an annual budget of more than $281 million. The institution operates a fleet of four
oceanographic Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...
research vessel A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated ...
s.


Research themes

Scripps follows a number of interdisciplinary research themes: * Climate change impacts and adaption * Resilience to hazards * Human health and the oceans * Innovative technology * Polar science * Biodiversity and conservation * National security


CalCOFI program

The California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) program, established in 1949, is an ongoing partnership between SIO,
NOAA Fisheries The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), informally known as NOAA Fisheries, is a United States federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that is responsible for the ste ...
, and the
California Department of Fish and Wildlife The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), formerly known as the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), is an American state agency under the California Natural Resources Agency. The Department of Fish and Wildlife manages ...
to study sardine population collapse and the marine environment off the coast of Southern California. Data are collected on routine research cruises and are able to be compared over many decades in a large service area.


The Keeling Curve

The Keeling Curve is the longest-running
time series In mathematics, a time series is a series of data points indexed (or listed or graphed) in time order. Most commonly, a time series is a sequence taken at successive equally spaced points in time. Thus it is a sequence of discrete-time data. ...
of atmospheric CO2, beginning in 1958. Spearheaded by Charles David Keeling, SIO established a research center in
Mauna Loa Mauna Loa (, ; ) is one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii in the U.S. state of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean. Mauna Loa is Earth's largest active volcano by both mass and volume. It was historically considered to be the largest ...
,
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
to record atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. Since then, SIO researchers have expanded the dataset into numerous other sampling locations and analytical parameters to monitor
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
.


Argo program

The Argo program is an international effort to survey ocean temperature, salinity, and currents. The program was developed in the late 1990s and chaired by SIO's Dean Roemmich and SIO researchers helped design the SOLO and SOLO-II float designs. SIO is also involved in Argo-related programs, such as GO-BGC (
biogeochemical Biogeochemistry is the scientific discipline that involves the study of the chemical, physical, geological, and biological processes and reactions that govern the composition of the natural environment (including the biosphere, the cryosphere, ...
) and SOCCOM, and hosts Argo data on the Argo Global Marine Atlas.


Oceanographic collections

SIO maintains a large collection of marine and
benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...
organism collections, tracing back to William Ritter's samples from 1902. When
ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...
Carl Hubbs arrived at SIO in 1944, the collections grew rapidly and expanded by around 9,000 samples in 2014 when SIO inherited collections from
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
's Department of Ecology. SIO also has a geological collection of thousands of ocean cores, sea dredge hauls,
microfossil A microfossil is a fossil that is generally between 0.001 mm and 1 mm in size, the visual study of which requires the use of light or electron microscopy. A fossil which can be studied with the naked eye or low-powered magnification, ...
slides, and rock samples. Collection samples are commonly used for instruction at SIO and for public outreach at
Birch Aquarium Birch Aquarium is a public aquarium in La Jolla, a community of San Diego, California. It serves as the public outreach center for Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, with over half a million people vi ...
.


Organizational structure


Research sections

Scripps Oceanography is divided into three research sections, each with its own subdivisions: * Biology ** Center for Marine Biotechnology & Biomedicine (CMBB) ** Integrative Oceanography Division (IOD) ** Marine Biology Research Division (MBRD) * Earth ** Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP) ** Geosciences Research Division (GRD) * Oceans & Atmosphere ** Climate, Atmospheric Science & Physical Oceanography (CASPO) ** Marine Physical Laboratory (MPL)


Directors

Margaret Leinen took office as the director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Vice Chancellor for Marine Sciences, and Dean of the Graduate School of Marine Sciences on October 1, 2013. List of SIO Directors


Research vessels

Scripps owns and operates several
research vessels A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated ...
and platforms: * RV ''Roger Revelle'' * RV ''Sally Ride'' * RV ''Robert Gordon Sproul'' * RV ''Bob and Betty Beyster'' Current and previous vessels larger than 50 ft (15 m)


Hybrid Hydrogen Research Vessel

In 2021, Scripps was awarded $35 million for the development of a new coastal research vessel as a replacement for the RV ''Robert Gordon Sproul'', in service since 1984. The proposed vessel would be 125 feet long and take 3 years to build, becoming the first hybrid-hydrogen research vessel in the UNOLS fleet and aiding in the University of California's Carbon Neutrality Initiative. Scripps chose
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
-based architect Glosten as the ship's designer, having work experience from numerous other SIO vessels. It is expected that the research vessel will operate on hydrogen power for 75% of its operations.


Birch Aquarium

Birch Aquarium Birch Aquarium is a public aquarium in La Jolla, a community of San Diego, California. It serves as the public outreach center for Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, with over half a million people vi ...
, the public exploration center for the institution, features a Hall of Fishes with more than 60 tanks of Pacific fishes and invertebrates from the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest to the tropical waters of Mexico and the IndoPacific, a 13,000-gallon local shark and ray exhibit, interactive tide pools, and interactive science exhibits. In 2022, the aquarium opened a new exhibit for
blue penguins The little penguin (''Eudyptula minor'') is the smallest species of penguin. It originates from New Zealand. It is commonly known as the fairy penguin, little blue penguin, or blue penguin, owing to its slate-blue plumage and is also known by ...
.


Notable faculty members (past and present)

*
Farooq Azam Farooq Azam (born in Lahore, Pakistan ) is a researcher in the field of marine microbiology. He is a distinguished professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California, San Diego. Farooq Azam grew up in Lahore and ...
* George Backus *
Ernest Baldwin Ernest Hubert Francis Baldwin (29 March 1909 – 7 December 1969) was an English biochemist, textbook author and pioneer in the field of comparative biochemistry. Born in Gloucester, Baldwin attended the Crypt Grammar School followed by ...
*
Andrew Benson Andrew Alm Benson (September 24, 1917 – January 16, 2015) was an American biologist and a professor of biology at the University of California, San Diego, until his retirement in 1989. He is known for his work in understanding the carbon c ...
*
Hugh Bradner Hugh Bradner (November 5, 1915 – May 5, 2008) was an American physicist at the University of California, Berkeley, University of California who is credited with inventing the neoprene wetsuit, which helped to revolutionize scuba diving and sur ...
*
Edward Brinton Edward Brinton (January 12, 1924 – January 13, 2010) was a professor of oceanography and research biologist. His particular area of expertise was Euphausiids or krill, small shrimp-like creatures found in all the oceans of the world. Early ...
* Theodore Holmes Bullock * Ralph J. Cicerone * Robert W. Corell *
Harmon Craig Harmon Craig (March 15, 1926 – March 14, 2003) was an American geochemist who worked briefly for the University of Chicago (1951-1955) before spending the majority of his career at Scripps Institution of Oceanography (1955-2003). Craig was inv ...
*
Paul J. Crutzen Paul Jozef Crutzen (; 3 December 1933 – 28 January 2021) was a Dutch meteorologist and atmospheric chemist. In 1995, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside Mario Molina and Frank Sherwood Rowland for their work on atmospheric ...
* Paul K. Dayton * Edward DeLong *
Robert S. Dietz Robert Sinclair Dietz (September 14, 1914 – May 19, 1995) was an American scientist with the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Dietz, born in Westfield, New Jersey, was a marine geologist, geophysicist and oceanographer who conducted p ...
* Seibert Q. Duntley *
Carl Eckart Carl Henry Eckart (May 4, 1902 – October 23, 1973) was an American physicist, physical oceanographer, geophysicist, and administrator. He co-developed the Wigner–Eckart theorem and is also known for the Eckart conditions in quantum mechani ...
* Jim T. Enright * David Epel * Edward A. Frieman *
Robert Garrels Robert Minard Garrels (August 24, 1916 – March 8, 1988) was an American geochemist. Garrels applied experimental physical chemistry data and techniques to geology and geochemistry problems. The book ''Solutions, Minerals, and Equilibria'' co-aut ...
*
Freeman Gilbert James Freeman Gilbert (August 9, 1931 – August 15, 2014) was an American geophysicist, best known for his work with George E. Backus on inverting geophysical data, and also for his role in establishing an international network of long-period s ...
* Edward D. Goldberg *
Klaus Hasselmann Klaus Ferdinand Hasselmann (; born 25 October 1931) is a German oceanographer and climate mathematical model, modeller. He is Professor Emeritus at the University of Hamburg and former Director of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology. He wa ...
*
Joel Hedgpeth Joel Walker Hedgpeth (September 29, 1911 – July 28, 2006) was a marine biologist, environmentalist and author. He was an expert on the marine arthropods known as sea spiders (Pycnogonida), and on the seashore plant and animal life of southern ...
*
Walter Heiligenberg Walter F. Heiligenberg (January 31, 1938 – September 8, 1994) was a German American scientist best known for his neuroethology work on one of the best neurologically understood behavioral patterns in a vertebrate, ''Eigenmannia''. This weakly el ...
*
Sam Hinton Sam Duffie Hinton (March 31, 1917 – September 10, 2009) was an American folk singer, marine biologist, photographer, and aquarist, best known for his music and harmonica playing. Hinton also taught at the University of California, San Diego, pu ...
* Linda Holland * Nicholas D. Holland * Carl Hubbs * Douglas Inman *
John Dove Isaacs John Dove Isaacs III (March 28, 1913 – June 6, 1980) was an American engineer and oceanographer. He was known for his research and contributions to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego. Early life ...
*
Jeremy Jackson Jeremy Dunn Jackson (born October 16, 1980) is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his role as Hobie Buchannon on the television show ''Baywatch''. Career Television Jackson appeared as Hobie Buchannon in 159 episodes from sea ...
* Martin W. Johnson *
Thomas H. Jordan Thomas H. Jordan is an American seismologist, and former director (2002–2017) of the Southern California Earthquake Center at the University of Southern California. He was formerly the head of the Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences D ...
* Miriam Kastner * Charles David Keeling *
Ralph Keeling Ralph Franklin Keeling (born 1957) is a professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He is the Principal Investigator for the ''Atmospheric Oxygen Research Group'' at Scripps and is the director of the ''Scripps Program'', the measurement p ...
* Charles Kennel *
Nancy Knowlton Nancy Knowlton is a coral reef biologist and a former Sant Chair for Marine Science at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Life She graduated from Harvard University, and from the University of California, Berkeley, with a PhD. ...
* Lisa Levin * Ralph A. Lewin *
Michael S. Longuet-Higgins Michael Selwyn Longuet-Higgins FRS (8 December 1925 – 26 February 2016) was a British mathematician and oceanographer at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP), Cambridge University, England and Institute fo ...
* Edwin P. Martz *
Henry William Menard Henry William Menard (December 10, 1920 – February 9, 1986) was an American geologist. Life and career He earned a B.S. and M.S. from the California Institute of Technology in 1942 and 1947, having served in the South Pacific during World War ...
*
Mario J. Molina Mario José Molina-Pasquel Henríquez (19 March 19437 October 2020) was a Mexican physical chemist. He played a pivotal role in the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole, and was a co-recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his rol ...
*
John W. Miles John Wilder Miles (December 1, 1920 – October 20, 2008) was a research professor emeritus of applied mechanics and geophysics at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. He was well regarded for his pioneering w ...
* B. Greg Mitchell *
Judith Munk Judith Munk (April 10, 1925 – May 19, 2006) was an American artist and designer associated with Scripps Institution of Oceanography. She was inducted into the San Diego Women's Hall of Fame posthumously, in 2008. Early life and education Ju ...
*
Walter Munk Walter Heinrich Munk (October 19, 1917 – February 8, 2019) was an American physical oceanographer. He was one of the first scientists to bring statistical methods to the analysis of oceanographic data. Munk worked on a wide range of topics, i ...
* Jerome Namias * William Nierenberg * Pearn P. Niiler * Stewart Nozette *
Veerabhadran Ramanathan Veerabhadran "Ram" Ramanathan (born 24 November 1944) holds the title of Professor Emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego. He was Edward A. Frieman Endowed Presidential Chair in Climate Sustaina ...
*
Roger Revelle Roger Randall Dougan Revelle (March 7, 1909 – July 15, 1991) was a scientist and scholar who was instrumental in the formative years of the University of California, San Diego, and was among the early scientists to study anthropogenic global ...
*
William Emerson Ritter William Emerson Ritter (November 21, 1856 – January 10, 1944) was an American biologist. Ritter initiated and shaped the Marine Biological Association of San Diego (now Scripps Institution of Oceanography of UC San Diego) and the American ...
* Dean Roemmich *
Richard Heinrich Rosenblatt Richard Heinrich Rosenblatt (December 21, 1930 – October 14, 2014) was an American Ichthyology, ichthyologogist. Rosenblatt was born in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri in 1930, and died in San Diego, California in 2014. Rosenbla ...
* Enric Sala *
Hans Suess Hans Eduard Suess (December 16, 1909 – September 20, 1993) was an Austrian-born American physical chemist and nuclear physicist. He was a grandson of the Austrian geologist Eduard Suess. Career Suess earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from the ...
* Francis Parker Shepard * Cornelius Cole Smith, Jr. * Richard Somerville *
Fred Spiess Dr. Fred Noel Spiess (December 25, 1919 – September 8, 2006) was a naval officer, oceanographer and marine explorer. His work created new advances in marine technology including the FLIP Floating Instrument Platform, the Deep Tow vehicle for s ...
* Janet Sprintall *
George Sugihara George Sugihara (born in Tokyo, Japan) is currently a professor of biological oceanography in the Physical Oceanography Research Division at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, where he is the inaugural holder of the McQuown Chair in Natural S ...
* Harald Sverdrup *
Lynne Talley Lynne Talley (born May 18, 1954) is a physical oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography known for her research into the large-scale circulation of water masses in the global ocean. Early life and education Talley received a B.A. i ...
* Warren White * Klaus Wyrtki * Victor Vacquier *
Benjamin Elazari Volcani Benjamin Elazari Volcani (; born 4 January 1915, died 1 February 1999) was an Israeli microbiologist who discovered life in the Dead Sea and pioneered biological silicon research at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of Cali ...
* Shang-Ping Xie * William R. Young


Notable alumni

*
Tanya Atwater Tanya Atwater (born 1942) is an American geophysicist and marine geologist who specializes in plate tectonics. She is particularly renowned for her early research on the plate tectonic history of western North America. Early life and education A ...
* Thomas E. Bowman III *
Edward Brinton Edward Brinton (January 12, 1924 – January 13, 2010) was a professor of oceanography and research biologist. His particular area of expertise was Euphausiids or krill, small shrimp-like creatures found in all the oceans of the world. Early ...
* Stephen E. Calvert *
Kim Cobb Kim M. Cobb (born 1974) is an American Climate change, climate scientist, who is professor of Environment and Society and professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Brown University, where she directs the Institute at Brown for E ...
*
Jack Corliss John B. ("Jack") Corliss is a scientist who has worked in the fields of geology, oceanography, and the origins of life. Corliss is a University of California, San Diego Alumnus, receiving his PhD from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in the ...
* John M. Edmond * Kenneth Farley * Michael Freilich * Susan M. Gaines *
Timothy Gallaudet Timothy Cole Gallaudet is an American oceanographer and retired Rear Admiral in the United States Navy. Gallaudet worked for the U.S. Department of Commerce as the Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Acting Admin ...
* Eric Giddens *
Susan Hough Susan Elizabeth Hough (born March 20, 1961) is a seismologist at the United States Geological Survey in Pasadena, California, and scientist in charge of the office. She has served as an editor and contributor for many journals and is a contributin ...
*
Ancel Keys Ancel Benjamin Keys (January 26, 1904 – November 20, 2004) was an American physiologist who studied the influence of diet on health. In particular, he hypothesized that replacing dietary saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat reduced c ...
*
Megan McArthur Katherine Megan McArthur (born August 30, 1971) is an American oceanographer, engineer, and NASA astronaut. She has served as a Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) for both the Space Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS). Megan McArthur has flo ...
* James J. McCarthy *
Marcia McNutt Marcia Kemper McNutt (born February 19, 1952) is an American geophysicist and the 22nd president of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of the United States. McNutt was the 15th director of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) (the fir ...
*
Jessica Meir Jessica Ulrika Meir ( IPA: ; ; born ) is an American NASA astronaut, marine biologist, and physiologist. She was previously an assistant professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, following postdo ...
*
Walter Munk Walter Heinrich Munk (October 19, 1917 – February 8, 2019) was an American physical oceanographer. He was one of the first scientists to bring statistical methods to the analysis of oceanographic data. Munk worked on a wide range of topics, i ...
* Wheeler J. North * Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara *
Colm Ó hEocha Colm Ó hEocha (; 19 September 1926 – 19 May 1997) was an Irish scientist and educationalist, who served as president of University College Galway and Chairman of the New Ireland Forum. Ó hEocha was born in Dungarvan, County Waterford, in 1 ...
* Joseph R. Pawlik * George Perry * S. K. Satheesh *
Brinke Stevens Brinke Stevens (born Charlene Elizabeth Brinkman, September 20, 1954) is an American actress. A native of San Diego, Stevens initially pursued a career as a marine biologist prior to becoming an actress, earning an undergraduate degree in biolo ...
* Christopher Stott * Brian Tucker


Awards by SIO

SIO confers a number of awards for scientific advancement or betterment of society.


Popular culture

In 2014, the institution and its Keeling Curve measurement of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were featured as a plot point in an episode of HBO's ''The Newsroom''. In 2008, Scripps Institution of Oceanography was the subject of a category on the TV game show ''
Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...
''.


See also

* Array Network Facility *
RISE project The RISE Project (Rivera Submersible Experiments) was a 1979 international marine research project which mapped and investigated seafloor spreading in the Pacific Ocean, at the crest of the East Pacific Rise (EPR) at 21° north latitude. Using a ...
*
Scripps Research Scripps Research is a nonprofit American medical research facility that focuses on research and education in the biomedical sciences. Headquartered in San Diego, California, the institute has over 170 laboratories employing 2,100 scientists, tec ...
, a neighboring, but completely independent medical research institute *
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) is a private, non-profit oceanographic research center in Moss Landing, California. MBARI was founded in 1987 by David Packard, and is primarily funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foun ...
, a private, non-profit oceanographic research center in
Moss Landing, California Moss Landing, formerly Moss, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Monterey County, California, United States. It is located north-northeast of Monterey, at an elevation of . It is on the shore of Monterey Bay, at ...
*
Moss Landing Marine Laboratories The Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (MLML) is a multi-campus marine research consortium of the California State University System, headquartered at Moss Landing, California. Organization Moss Landing Marine Laboratories is part of the Califor ...
, a multi-campus marine research consortium of the
California State University System The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a Public university, public university system in California, and the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, largest public university system in the United States ...
*
Hopkins Marine Station Hopkins Marine Station is the marine laboratory of Stanford University. It is located south of the university's main campus, in Pacific Grove, California (United States) on the Monterey Peninsula, adjacent to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It is h ...
, a similar research facility run by
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
in
Monterey, California Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, California, Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a popu ...
*
Hatfield Marine Science Center The Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC) is a marine science research and education center next to Yaquina Bay of the Pacific Ocean in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is operated by Oregon State University in cooperation with five state and federal ...
, a similar research facility associated with the
Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctor ...
and located in Newport, Oregon *
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...
, a similar research facility located in
Woods Hole Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwestern corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 78 ...
, Massachusetts


References


Further reading


''Scripps Institution of Oceanography; First Fifty Years''
Helen Raitt and Beatrice Moulton. Los Angeles : W. Ritchie Press, 1967.
''Scripps Institution of Oceanography : Probing the Oceans, 1936 to 1976''
Elizabeth Noble Shor. San Diego, Calif. : Tofua Press, 1978. * The Keeling Curve Turns 50


External links


Official website
{{Authority control Oceanographic organizations Research institutes in California University of California, San Diego Culture of San Diego Landmarks in San Diego Organizations based in San Diego La Jolla, San Diego National Register of Historic Places in San Diego Scripps family Barton Myers buildings 1903 establishments in California