Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Scripps Institution of Oceanography was founded in 1903 as the Marine Biological Association of San Diego, an independent biological research laboratory. It was proposed and incorporated by a committee of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, led by local activist and amateur malacologist Fred Baker, together with two colleagues. He recruited University of California Zoology professor William Emerson Ritter to head up the proposed marine biology institution, and obtained financial support from local philanthropists E. W. Scripps and Ellen Browning Scripps. They fully funded the institution for its first decade. It began institutional life in the boathouse of the Hotel del Coronado located on San Diego Bay. It re-located in 1905 to the La Jolla area on the head above La Jolla Cove, and finally in 1907 to its present location.[5]

In 1912 Scripps became incorporated into the University of California and was renamed the "Scripps Institution for Biological Research."[1] Since 1916, measurements have been taken daily at its pier.[6] The name was changed to Scripps Institution of Oceanography in October 1925.[1] During the 1960s, led by Scripps Institution of Oceanography director Roger Revelle, it formed the nucleus for the creation of the University of California, San Diego on a bluff overlooking Scripps Institution.

The Old Scripps Building, designed by Irving Gill, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1982.[7][8] Architect Barton Myers designed the current Scripps Building for the Institution of Oceanography in 1998.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography researchers at sea

The institution's research programs encompass biological, physical, chemical, geological, and geophysical studies of the oceans and land. Scripps also studies the interaction of the oceans with both the atmospheric climate and environmental concerns on terra firma. Related to this research, Scripps offers undergraduate and graduate degrees.[9]

Today, the Scripps staff of 1,300 includes approximately 235 faculty, 180 other scientists and some 350 graduate students, with an annual budget of more than $281 million.[10] The institution operates a fleet of four oceanographic research vessels.[11]

The Integrated Research Themes [12] encompassing the work done by Scripps researchers are Biodiversity and Conservation, California Environment, Earth and Planetary Chemistry, Earth Through Space and Time, Energy and the Environment, Environment and Human Health, Global Change, Global Environmental Monitoring, Hazards, Ice and Climate, Instruments and Innovation, Interfaces, Marine Life, Modeling Theory and Computing, Sound and Light and the Sea, and Waves and Circulation.

Margaret Leinen took office as the Director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Vice Chancellor for Marine Sciences, and Dean of the Graduate School of Marine Sciences on October 1, 2013.[2]

Scripps Oceanography is divided into three research sections, each with its own subdivisions:[13]

• Biology
  • Center for Marine Biotechnology & Biomedicine (CMBB)
  • Integrative Oceanography Division (IOD) Archived 2015-11-29 at the Wayback Machine
  • Marine Biology Research Division (MBRD)
• Earth
  • Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP)
  • Geosciences Research Division (GRD)
• Oceans & Atmosphere
  • Climate, Atmospheric Science & Physical Oceanography (CASPO)
  • Marine Physical Laboratory (MPL) Archived 2013-10-04 at the Wayback Machine

On October 25, 1973, California Sea Grant became a college (National Sea Grant College Program) administered by Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.[14][15]

Scripps research vessel Roger Revelle

Scripps owns and operates several research vessels and platforms:[16]

• RV Roger Revelle
• RV Sally Ride
• RV Robert Gordon Sproul
• RP Flip
• RV Bob and Betty Beyster

Current and previous vessels larger than 50 ft (15 m)

• 1906–???? – RV Loma
• 1907–1917 – RV Alexander Agassiz
• 1918–1918 – RV Ellen Browning
• 1925–1936 – RV Scripps
• 1937–1955 – RV E. W. Scripps
• 1955–1965 – RV Stranger (Operated as USS Jasper from 1941 to 1947 for the UC Division of War Research)
• 1947–1956 – RV Crest
• 1947–1969 – RV Horizon
• 1948–1965 – RV Paolina-T
• 1951–1965 – RV Spencer F.Baird
• 1955–1969 – T-441
• 1956–1962 – RV Orca
• 1959–1963 – RV Hugh M. Smith
• 1959–1970 – RV Argo (Official Navy name was Snatch)
• 1962–1976 – RV Alexander Agassiz
• 1962–present – RP FLIP
• 1962–1974 – RV Oconostota (The Oconostota was known as "The Rolling O" because of its unpleasant motion.)
• 1965–1980 – RV Alpha Helix (Transferred to University of Alaska, Fairbanks in 1980 (UAF sold vessel in 2007 to Stabbert Maritime)
• 1965–???? – RV Ellen B. Scripps
• 1966–1992 – RV Thomas Washington (Transferred to Chile and renamed Vidal Gormaz)
• 1969–2014 – RV Melville
• 1973–???? – RV Gianna
• 1978–2015 – RV New Horizon
• 1984–present – RV Robert Gordon Sproul
• 1995–present – RV Roger Revelle
• 2016–present – RV Sally Ride
• 2019–present - RV Bob and Betty Beyster

Birch Aquarium at Scripps, with the Village of La Jolla in the background

Birch Aquarium at Scripps, the public exploration center for the institution, features a Hall of Fishes with more than 60 tanks of Pacific fishes and invertebrates from the cold waters of the Pacific Northwest to the tropical waters of Mexico and the IndoPacific, a 13,000-gallon local shark and ray exhibit, interactive tide pools, and interactive science exhibits.[17]

In 2014, the institution and its Keeling Curve measurement of atmospheric carbon dioxide levels were featured as a plot point in an episode of HBO's The Newsroom.[20] In 2008, Scripps Institution of Oceanography was the subject of a category on the TV game show Jeopardy!.[21] Scripps has been a story element in numerous fictional works.[22]

In June 2023, two graduate students and one recent graduate were arrested at their homes by University of California Police and held in custody overnight.[23] They face two felony charges of criminal vandalism and criminal conspiracy related to a May 30 protest where the accused allegedly protested low graduate student wages by writing chalk messages on a newly opened building. The University alleges $12,000 in damages related to this incident.[24] Union leadership in UAW 2865 and 5810, the local union chapters representing the arrested workers, accuse the University of California of retaliation[25] and reneging on the contracts signed at the conclusion of the 2022 UC academic workers' strike.[26] On July 10, 2023, hundreds of protesters gathered at San Diego's Central Courthouse to protest the arrests, however in a written statement the San Diego District Attorney's office said the arraignment would not move forward because the case had not been submitted to its office for review.[27][28] However, university officials have up to three years to file charges and on July 18, 2023 UCPD obtained a warrant and searched a fourth student's house for evidence of chalk or union affiliation in relation to the May 30 incident.[29]

• Array Network Facility
• RISE project
• The Scripps Research Institute, a neighboring, but completely independent medical research institute
• Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, a private, non-profit oceanographic research center in Moss Landing, California
• Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, a multi-campus marine research consortium of the California State University System
• Hopkins Marine Station, a similar research facility run by Stanford University in Monterey, California
• Hatfield Marine Science Center, a similar research facility associated with the Oregon State University and located in Newport, Oregon
• Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a similar research facility located in Woods Hole, Massachusetts

• Scripps Institution of Oceanography; First Fifty Years Helen Raitt and Beatrice Moulton. Los Angeles : W. Ritchie Press, 1967.
• Scripps Institution of Oceanography : Probing the Oceans, 1936 to 1976 Elizabeth Noble Shor. San Diego, Calif. : Tofua Press, 1978.
• The Keeling Curve Turns 50

• Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• explorations E-Magazine
• Support Scripps
• Birch Aquarium at Scripps
• "How Scripps Institution Came To San Diego", The Journal of San Diego History 27:3 (Summer 1981) by Elizabeth N. Shor
• Scripps Institution of Oceanography digital collection on HathiTrust Digital Library