During a release, researchers put 15 gallons of the dye into the estuary as the tide level is falling. Another release is planned sometime before the end of the month and another in early February. Giddings' team is doing three dye releases, the first of which was on Jan. Credit: Scripps Institution of Oceanography The hypotheses Scripps researchers are testing by releasing pink dye into the nearby waters. Because these bodies of water filter out sediments and pollutants from water before flowing into the ocean, they are a vital component of health for marine life.Īccording to the research project's website, Giddings and her team hypothesize that four things could potentially be happening to the freshwater as it interacts with the ocean waves: It gets trapped in the surf zone and/or escapes as a freshwater plume it stays within a certain parameter of the coastline it escapes the surf zone through rip currents or finally, that waves mix the freshwater with the ocean water next to the shore. They are also "one of the most threatened ecosystems on Earth," NOAA says, as human activities have negatively impacted their overall health. Estuaries, NOAA explains, are "delicate ecosystems" that contain freshwater drained from land as well as salty seawater. Giddings' research takes a deep dive into how estuaries and the coastal ocean influence each other. "We will combine results from this experiment within older field study and computer models that will allow us to make progress on understanding how these plumes spread." "We're bringing together a lot of different people with different expertise, such that I think it's going to have some really great results and impacts," she said. They chose Los Peñasquitos Lagoon because it's a "prime example" of small plumes going into surf zones, she said in a news release. Scripps coastal oceanographer and study leader Sarah Giddings called the research a "really unique experiment," as many previous studies on this subject matter have focused on large amounts of freshwater going into the ocean. Scripps Institution of Oceanography January 25, 2023 You've heard of the green room, but have you ever been barreled in the pink room? □□ Last week's pink waves at Torrey Pines State Beach were a result of science in action. Researchers are conducting a study, called Plumes in Nearshore Conditions, or PiNC, to learn more about how freshwater interacts with salt water near shore.īy releasing a non-toxic pink dye in the nearby Los Peñasquitos Lagoon coastal estuary, researchers say they are able to monitor what happens to that water when "small-scale plumes" end up in the surf zone along the beach, where the waves break. Scripps Institution of Oceanography is actually responsible for the temporary color change at Torrey Pines State Beach. Bright fuchsia-colored waves were seen crashing along the shore in the past week, and researchers have revealed just what's causing the sudden and dramatic color change. The usual blue waters of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego are looking quite different - at least for a while. 20, 2023 / Credit: Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego Pink waves at Torrey Pines State Beach, temporarily dyed as part of a study by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California-San Diego, on Jan.
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