Scripps Oceanography
2022 Annual Impact Report

Research Highlights

New Scripps Ocean-Atmosphere Simulator Debuts

The new Scripps Ocean-Atmosphere Research Simulator, or SOARS, became operational in 2022, hosting its inaugural experiment over the summer. This new instrument, funded by the National Science Foundation and UC San Diego, is the only instrument of its kind in the world that can replicate the ocean, atmosphere, and biology of the oceans, from polar to tropical conditions. 

The NSF-funded Center for Aerosol Impacts on Chemistry of the Environment (CAICE) at UC San Diego was the first group to put the new instrument to the test in a multi-week experiment that examined the composition of the gases and sea spray aerosols coming out of the ocean at high winds, and how this affects their ability to seed marine clouds. 

“SOARS allows us to move the ocean-atmosphere-biology system into the lab in a truly unprecedented way,” said atmospheric chemistry professor Kimberly Prather, founding director of CAICE and co-principal investigator for SOARS. “Our inaugural experiment let us study the production of sea spray aerosols as a function of wind speed in a way that is not possible over the open ocean. This information on how much sea spray is released into the air will be vital in understanding the properties and lifetimes of marine clouds and how this will changing as our Earth system warms.”

Biomedical Breakthroughs

Scientists with the Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine had several major breakthroughs on research with implications for developing anti-cancer drugs and accelerating the pace of biomedical research.

In March, graduate student Kate Baumann led research to determine exactly how a marine bacterium makes a potent anti-cancer molecule called salinosporamide A, also known as Marizomib. Currently in Phase III clinical trials to treat the brain cancer glioblastoma, scientists now for the first time understand the enzyme-driven process that activates the molecule.

Baumann and colleagues found that an enzyme called SalC assembles what the team calls the salinosporamide anti-cancer “warhead.” The work solves a nearly 20-year riddle about how the marine bacterium makes the warhead that is unique to the salinosporamide molecule and opens the door to future biotechnology to manufacture new anti-cancer agents.

Additionally, a team in marine biologist Amro Hamdoun’s lab created a line of sea urchins whose genetic makeup is fully mapped and can be edited using the gene-editing technology CRISPR to study human disease genes. 

Sea urchins, like fruit flies or lab rats, have been an organisms used in research for more than a century. They are used around the world to study the developmental origins of diseases, and the effects of pollutants on human and marine health. But few can be grown in the lab and genetically modified like other lab animals. Having this new “genetically enabled” urchin could dramatically enhance the efficiency, reproducibility, and utility of those studies, and ultimately accelerate the pace of marine biomedical research.

U.S.-Mexico Border Wastewater Transport Model Suggests Solutions To Reduce Coastal Contamination

Scripps Oceanography researchers working with the Environmental Protection Agency and Stanford University identified an intervention that can dramatically reduce sickness among swimmers near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Raw sewage from Tijuana, Mexico, flows into the coastal ocean at the Tijuana River Estuary near Imperial Beach, Calif., and also 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of the border at Punta Bandera where the outfall of the San Antonio de los Buenos (SAB) treatment plant is located. This raw sewage leads to sickness among swimmers and beach closures primarily at Imperial Beach, on the U.S. side of the border. 

The Scripps-led team found that improving the treatment plant’s capabilities would be the most effective remedy to reduce swimmers’ exposure to pathogens in the ocean. 

“This critical study helped us address beach water quality impacts caused by untreated sewage on both sides of the border more effectively and binationally,” said EPA representative Lily Lee. “Thanks to this effort, EPA proposed a series of projects that will better address U.S. and Mexican sources of sewage.”

The research also led to a Scripps Oceanography proposal to create a water quality forecast system based on this model, which would provide 3-to-5-day forecasts of when beaches should be closed in order to keep swimmers safe. Scripps Oceanography is proposing this project to the California Environmental Protection Agency and California State Water Resources Control Board for funding.

Scientists Measure Coral Reef Recovery

The largest global coral-bleaching event ever documented struck the world’s oceans in 2014 and lasted until 2017. Despite widespread damage reports, a 10-year study from Palmyra Atoll in the remote central Pacific Ocean shows that reefs outside the reach of local human impacts can recover from bleaching.

A team of scientists from the lab of marine ecologist Jennifer Smith visited Palmyra annually from 2009 to 2018 to document the same 80 plots spread across eight sites around the atoll along underwater transects. Using simple image-analysis tools and digital tracing, they analyzed more than 1,500 images to identify all bottom-dwelling organisms present in the plots to see if they are increasing or decreasing in abundance. 

The research team saw signs of coral decline, but within two years this was restored.

Smith and co-author Adi Khen found that the atoll’s clean, protected waters and intact ecosystems helped harbor a healthy population of fishes that may contribute to the resilience of Palmyra’s reefs. They hope these lessons carry forward to other resource managers with coral reefs closer to human populations in locations beset with pollution, overfishing, sedimentation, warming and acidification. 

“Certainly, they’re going to be more susceptible to large losses,” Smith said. “But to know that places like this are out there showing signs of resistance and resilience gives us hope and also shows us that there’s still a lot to learn about how these intact systems are functioning.”

BIRCH AQUARIUM

World’s Smallest Penguins Make Big Splash at Birch Aquarium

Birch Aquarium at Scripps opened the highly anticipated Beyster Family Little Blue Penguins habitat in July 2022. The two-day celebration was attended by the Scripps and UC San Diego communities as well as elected officials including San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, who declared July 12 as “Little Blue Penguins Day” in honor of these gregarious seabirds.

The 2,900-square-foot exhibit, which houses the world’s smallest penguins, provides the highest standard in penguin care while also offering a fun and educational guest experience. Birch Aquarium is currently the only aquarium in the western U.S. that houses Little Blue Penguins, which are native to Southern Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. The habitat is also the first seabird exhibit in the history of the aquarium.

Birch Aquarium is working toward protecting this species as they face habitat loss and a dropping population due to climate change. Little Blue Penguins are part of a collaborative international Species Survival Plan (SSP). This program seeks to protect various species ensuring the sustainability of a healthy, genetically diverse, and demographically varied penguin population. Furthermore, the habitat explores the interdisciplinary penguin research of Scripps Oceanography scientists Jerry Kooyman, Paul Ponganis, and Tammy Russell. Their discoveries provided Scripps with a better understanding of the biology of these aquatic seabirds, and the impact of climate change on penguins.

Following the opening, Birch Aquarium has seen visitation numbers rebound to near pre-pandemic levels, having welcomed 146,000 guests in the first three months alone.

Birch Aquarium Numbers Fiscal Year '21-'22

411,305 total attendance 
215 schools served 
26,902 total students served 
6,637 students received financial aid
 

Equity, Diversity and inclusion

New Fellowship Program Supports Diversity in Scientific Diving

A new program led by Scripps Oceanography aims to break down barriers and make the scientific diving community a more inclusive space. Launched in Fall 2022, the DIVERsity Fellowship Program supports a small cohort of outstanding and diverse undergraduate and graduate students at UC San Diego who want to contribute to oceanographic research but face barriers to inclusion in scientific diving programs.

“Our goal with the DIVERsity Fellowship Program is to dismantle some of the systemic barriers that exist for underrepresented students who want to become scientific divers,” said Scripps Director of Diversity Initiatives Keiara Auzenne.

The program was designed by Scripps PhD candidate Erica Ferrer and alumna Alyssa Griffin, with support from Auzenne and Scripps Dive Safety Officer Christian McDonald. The initiative has already received six years of funding thanks to contributions from several members of the Scripps Director’s Council and the Scripps Education Department, with dive equipment provided by ScubaPro.

Each year, the program will see a new cohort of 3-5 fellows who will receive diver training in addition to support by a dedicated faculty sponsor and a mentor who is an active scientific diver. Fellows have access to swimming and water safety classes offered through UC San Diego Recreation, and will receive mentorship and professional support as they move through the certification process.

“I think the status and reputation of Scripps’ Scientific Diving Program provides a really important opportunity to model this program and pilot this program, and we hope that other institutions will follow,” said Griffin.

Scripps Launches New Program to Support Community College Students in Geosciences

In January 2022, the Scripps Geosciences Educational Opportunities (Scripps-GEO) program was officially launched under the late Jane Teranes, a Scripps Oceanography professor who served as program director. Scripps-GEO provides undergraduate students enrolled in San Diego-area community colleges with research experiences at Scripps in the fields of geoscience. 

“The Scripps-GEO program is dedicated towards establishing a geosciences learning community, where we’re working with students at community colleges and trying to tell them about more opportunities in our field through seminars and research opportunities,” Teranes said at the time of the program’s launch.

Students in the program are cross-enrolled between their community college and UC San Diego, where they receive credit for taking SIO 65: Geosciences Seminar. Nine of the twelve Scripps-GEO students were chosen for the Scripps GEO-Scholars program, which is a paid research opportunity. 

Following Teranes’ passing in July 2022, the Scripps-GEO program is now being led by Scripps Associate Chair Lisa Adams and will resume in Fall 2023.

Scripps Receives $350,000 Grant to Support Equity, Diversity and Inclusion 

A three-year grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation has provided Scripps with funding for an outreach and recruitment program that fosters diversity for students in geosciences, cultivates a sense of belonging among minority students, and helps Scripps build meaningful relationships with students underrepresented in STEM. 

The equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) team at Scripps aims to use the grant to create a more inclusive environment on campus, increasing the number of people recruited through approaches including “Chat with a Scripps Scientist,” “Peers Offering Community (POC) Circle,” the Community Engagement Fellows program, and funding for support staff. 

“Having the support from the Heising-Simons Foundation is going to allow us to deepen our work, increase our impact and reach a broader audience of folks,” said Keiara Auzenne, Director of Diversity Initiatives at Scripps Oceanography.

As a result of the grant, “Chat with a Scripps Scientist” can now host workshops for minority-serving institutions to recruit students to Scripps graduate programs.

Innovation

Following Success in First Year, UC San Diego Announces Second Cohort for Blue Economy Accelerator

After the success of the inaugural startBlue cohort, UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management and Scripps Institution of Oceanography have selected six teams for the second cohort for the startBlue program. The startBlue ocean accelerator program supports science and engineering startups in the growing and highly vital blue tech sector, devising new solutions that can be integrated into science, industry, investment, and government networks. StartBlue teams participate at no cost, and develop new businesses around science and engineering solutions to crucial ocean challenges.

Startups accepted include Amphitrite Robotics, Aras Photonics, Berkeley Marine Robotics, CoilReef, Ocean Soteria, and Octopus Garden. Each startup in the second cohort receives Scripps science and Rady entrepreneurship curricula, one-on-one mentorship, and access to potential partners, customers, and sources of investment. 

The first startBlue cohort concluded in May 2022 and is continuing to make waves in the wider blue economy. The seven teams that completed the first round of the program have raised $35,000 in donations, won over $200,000 in prize money and received $7.5 million in grant funding. Other highlights include cohort member Algeon Materials being accepted into the Creative Destruction Lab program, and CalWave Power Technologies Inc. successfully completing a historic wave energy pilot supported by an award from the United States Department of Energy.
 

SCRIPPS INSTITUTION OF OCEANOGRAPHY RESEARCH VESSELS

New California Coastal Hybrid-Hydrogen Vessel Design Progresses

In 2022, Scripps advanced progress on the development of the first-of-its-kind hybrid-hydrogen research vessel, selecting Glosten as the naval architect. With this selection, the preliminary design, contract design, and detailed design for the research vessel are now underway. 

The hybrid-hydrogen design of this new vessel represents an innovation in the maritime industry. Currently, emissions from diesel engines on ships contribute to greenhouse gases and pollution. Development of this and subsequent zero-emission vessels is essential to the University of California’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative, the goal to be carbon neutral by 2025. This new vessel will feature an innovative hybrid propulsion system that integrates hydrogen fuel cells alongside a conventional diesel-electric power plant, enabling zero-emission operations. 

California legislators allocated $35 million toward the design and construction of this vessel last summer. When complete, the vessel will serve as a platform for education and research dedicated to understanding the California coast and climate change impacts to the coastal ecosystem. It will continue the university’s educational mission to train the next generation of scientists, leaders, and policymakers, with the ability to carry up to 45 students and educators to sea on day trips, improving the university’s capacity for experiential learning at sea.

The anticipated schedule for design and construction includes one year to complete the basic design. Following U.S. Coast Guard approval of the design, the university will select the shipyard where the design will be constructed. Construction and detail design will likely take an additional three years. 

Ships Numbers Fiscal Year '21-'22

594 operational days at sea conducting scientific research and instruction
47 separate research missions
818 people supported at sea
Of the people who sailed aboard, 474 were from Scripps, and the remaining came from 89 different institutions.