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Shore Stations Program Data Archive: Current and historical coastal ocean temperature and salinity measurements from California stations

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Shore Stations Program Data Archive: Current and historical coastal ocean temperature and salinity measurements from California stations

About this collection

Extent

10 digital objects.

Cite This Work

Carter, Melissa L.; Flick, Reinhard E.; Terrill, Eric; Beckhaus, Elena C.; Martin, Kayla; Fey, Connie L.; Walker, Patricia W.; Largier, John L.; McGowan, John A. (2022). Shore Stations Program Data Archive: Current and historical coastal ocean temperature and salinity measurements from California stations. UC San Diego Library Digital Collections. https://doi.org/10.6075/J0S75GHD

Description

The Shore Stations Program (https://shorestations.ucsd.edu/) collects and provides access to current and historical daily sea surface temperature (SST) and salinity (SSS) measurements observed at shoreline locations along the west coast of the United States. Historically, stations ranged from the southernmost point at La Jolla, CA, to the northernmost point on the west coast, Neah Bay, WA, located at the entrance to the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

Currently, all 10 active stations are located in California. Data values are processed and published on the website by program staff at UCSD/Scripps Institution of Oceanography as they become available from each site.

This program ranks as one of the world’s longest, continuous ocean time series and the longest on the Pacific Rim. Measurements at La Jolla began in August 1916, with several other stations dating to the 1920’s. These long time series are essential for identifying coastal ocean warming over the past century and determining its role in intensifying marine heat waves, as well as characterizing fluctuations in warming and cooling from seasonal to multi-decadal time scales. This growing data bank provides us with one of the first opportunities to separate natural from anthropogenic changes in our coastal zone.

These warm and cold anomalies, and the long-term warming trend have significant biological effects on plankton production, fish catch, and seabirds, among many other impacts. They also are associated with changes in sea level, wave heights, and beach erosion, and have recently been linked to climate fluctuations over the southwestern U.S.

Station List:
La Jolla, Scripps Pier - https://doi.org/10.6075/J06T0K0M
San Clemente - https://doi.org/10.6075/J0C53KN8
Newport Beach / Balboa Pier - https://doi.org/10.6075/J0GX4BCP
Point Dume / Zuma Beach - https://doi.org/10.6075/J00001XZ
Santa Barbara - https://doi.org/10.6075/J03N236M
Granite Canyon - https://doi.org/10.6075/J0QF8SQD
Pacific Grove - https://doi.org/10.6075/J0V69JF4
Farallon Islands - https://doi.org/10.6075/J0FX798R
Trinidad Beach - https://doi.org/10.6075/J0KP820G
Trinidad Bay - https://doi.org/10.6075/J07D2TXJ

Date Collected
  • 1916 to present
Date Issued
  • 2022
Principal Investigators
Research Team Members
Contributors
Funding

California Department of Parks and Recreation, Natural Resources Division, Award #C1670003 (2017-2022), Award# C22820005 (2023).

Geographics
Topics

Formats

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Language
  • English
Identifier

Identifier: Melissa L. Carter: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3458-4775

Related Resource

    Referenced by

    • Busse, L. B., Venrick, E. L., Antrobus, R., Miller, P. E., Vigilant, V., Silver, M. W., Mengelt, C., Mydlarz, L., & Prezelin, B. B. (2006). Domoic acid in phytoplankton and fish in San Diego, CA, USA. Harmful Algae, 5(1), 91–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hal.2005.06.005

    • García-Reyes, M., & Sydeman, W. J. (2017). California Multivariate Ocean Climate Indicator (MOCI) and marine ecosystem dynamics. Ecological Indicators, 72, 521–529. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2016.08.045

    • List, E. J., & Koh, R. C. Y. (1976). Variations in coastal temperatures on the southern and central California coast. Journal of Geophysical Research, 81(12), 1971–1979. https://doi.org/10.1029/jc081i012p01971

    • McGowan, J. A., Cayan, D. R., & Dorman, L. M. (1998). Climate-Ocean Variability and Ecosystem Response in the Northeast Pacific. Science, 281(5374), 210–217. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.281.5374.210

    • Pineda, J. (1995). An internal tidal bore regime at nearsbore stations along western U.S.A.: Predictable upwelling within the lunar cycle. Continental Shelf Reserarch, 15(8), 1023–1041. https://doi.org/10.1016/0278-4343(95)80007-Z

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