Palmyra Atoll Bleaching Update (May 2016)

The abnormally warm water event associated with El Niño has been pummeling coral reefs worldwide. Last week the Sandin and Smith labs from Scripps Institution of Oceanography embarked on a rapid response expedition to survey the damage of the warm sea surface temperatures at one of our long term monitoring sites. Palmyra Atoll, a tiny island in the central Pacific, … Read More

Published Results on Invasive Algae in San Diego

Smith Lab members Niko Kaplanis and Jill Harris recently published the results of their San Diego County non-native algae research project conducted between 2012 and 2014. This work documented patterns of establishment, spread, and persistence for two non-native algal species in San Diego county and analyzed this invasion in the larger geographic context of the entire Pacific Coast of North … Read More

SOAR with me underneath the Scripps Pier!

It is another beautiful day in paradise.  This paradise is sunny San Diego, California.  Today we’ll suit up for a dive underneath the pier at Scripps Institution of Oceanography to visit our underwater instruments for a cleaning and calibration water sample.  I have done this dive over 200 times, but thankfully it doesn’t get old.  I have been able to … Read More

From the Pristine to Degraded: Reefs of the Central Pacific

Scripps led research team assesses the impacts of human disturbance on coral reefs.   In one of the most comprehensive assessments of Pacific Ocean coral reef health spanning 10 years, 56 islands, and five archipelagos, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego marine ecologist Jennifer Smith and colleagues examined how coral reef communities at 450 sites are faring with … Read More