Day 2: Scripps Institution of Oceanography by Megan Woelkers

By -
July 1st, 2019

Day 2: Scripps Institution of Oceanography 
by Megan Woelkers

During the first full day of this two-week GELS program, we encountered some of the awesome pieces of technology the Scripps Institution of Oceanography has to offer. I had the privilege of seeing some feats of technology this research institution uses, like the horizontal-turned-vertical “ship” called “FLIP” or the trusty research vessel “Robert Gordon Sproul”. Although these ships were very impressive, the most impactful piece of technology we experienced today was the Scripps Institution Pier.

Megan standing under the arch that formed the entrance of the old pier 
at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
It doesn’t seem like much—just a quarter-mile of concrete jutting out into the ocean. However, there is more to this pier than meets the eye. When I first got to the gate of the pier, I was actually excited. As a resident of San Diego, I am very familiar with this piece of architecture, as it always has made for a good focal point in pictures! Now that I got to go onto the pier, it allowed for a whole other viewpoint above the water. When standing above the surf that most people were submersed in, I was tuned in to a whole different world living just below the water, a world that many are oblivious to when swimming in the ocean. We saw a massive school of anchovies by the north end of the pier just past the surf, and among this school was a group of yellow finned tuna, their stark coloration standing out against the dull gray of the anchovy. A lucky person would have seen the graceful stingrays and leopard sharks gliding in a shadow underwater. The marine life I saw was fantastic and inspiring.
           
This experience was particularly impactful because it reminded me of the beauty of the ocean, its many creatures, and how we need to protect them. The water temperature data collected off the pier itself has proven how warming water temperatures are a threat to the local species. Overall, the mass of concrete represents the technology created by humans and the efforts to sustain the environment we interact with, while giving a stable hope that there is life beyond the shore, and it will always be worth fighting for.

Yellow fin feeding on the anchovies


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 12: Success on the Hill by Peter Tangikyan

By -
Image
July 11th, 2019 Success on the Hill by Peter Tangikyan Before heading into a congressional office, millions of scenarios go through one’s head and they rarely are positive thoughts. We all go in looking for the big “yes,” but quite frankly, this is only ideal and rarely occurs. Going into Representative Tony Cardenas’ office, I surprisingly was not nervous because this office was to represent the needs of my community. It felt like a safe space where I was able to explain my ideas to passionate and concerned individuals, without the fear of being judged. Unlike the proposal of other students, my ask was ambitious since I was asking him to introduce new legislation that required a large sum of money.  Peter outside of Representative Tony Cardenas office. Walking into his office, I really expected nothing more than a couple of “good jobs” and I already accepted the worst outcome. I met with Representative Cardenas’ Deputy Chief of Staff/Legislative Director, who wa...
Read more

Day 11: Change, Change, Change by Cha Thompson

By -
Image
July 10th, 2019 Change, Change, Change by Cha Thompson The first activity in our evening activity was about change. We had to stare into a partner’s eyes for exactly one minute. Everyone paired up and my partner was Hannah. As we were staring into each other’s eyes, I felt calm and relaxed. During that one minute, we had a conversation about the color of their eyes and hair. I personally think that having a conversation helps both people feel less uncomfortable because you can connect with them verbally and visually. Once the minute was over, we were told to change five things about ourselves. At first I got stressed out deciding on what I should change. For example, I started by rolling up one sleeve and taking a shoe off. I felt that once we turned back around, it was easy to see what was changed because we had just spent a minute staring at them and I personally felt more connected to my partner. Cha and her partner Hannah working to find ways to change their appe...
Read more

Day 4: Policy, Microplastics, and Paleoclimatology

By -
Image
July 3rd, 2019 Day 4: Policy, Microplastics, and Paleoclimatology by Audrey Dickinson We spent most of our Wednesday presenting on climate change and learning about microplastics and environmental policy. Though these subjects are ostensibly why we are all here, the most engaging lesson took place beyond our quaint classroom at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Shane the paleoclimatologist was kind enough to bring us inside the ice core lab: the freezing room in Scripps where samples of ancient ice are stored and analyzed.  Audrey and her research group "Heat" present the environmental and economic implications of climate change. Before we toured the lab, Shane gave a short presentation describing his work analyzing the history of the Earth. It was incredible to learn how paleoclimatologists test tiny bubbles of gas trapped in ice and examine patterns of layering, then use this data to make inferences about the composition of the atmosphere and temp...
Read more