Dr. John Largier: The Ocean Connection - Understanding the Ocean's Role in the Bay

The Autodesk Office of the CTO has a Maritime Research team that is investigating the use of tools in the design and creation of structures related to water, e.g., piers. The team also considers sustainability aspects of the relationship between humans and bodies of water. As such, a group of us attended a lunch-time lecture at the Exploratorium by Dr. John Largier on the topic of relationship between the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay.

Here are some fun facts I learned from this talk.

• The San Francisco Bay is 90% salt water with 10% fresh water.

• Sea water flows in and out of the Bay below (on the bottom) the fresh water (on the top). Tides and surface winds affect the flow. Water comes out and in simultaneously but in different proportions.

• There are high concentrations of nitrates at ocean depths since organisms that die sink to the bottom.

• When water flow patterns result in too much salinity in the Bay water (exceeding a saturation horizon), sea animals cannot make shells.

• Great White sharks move in relation to movement of salt water. They avoid low salinity water.'

So in the interest of supporting life that is native to the Bay while discouraging Great Whites from entering the Bay, it is important to understand how the Bay and Pacific Ocean interoperate. It was great to walk over to the nearby Exploratorium to spend a lunch hour learning about the San Francisco Bay.

The study of water is alive in the lab.