Graduate student Isabella Arzeno just published the first chapter of her dissertation on examining the dynamics over coral reefs. While prior dynamical studies over coral reefs have predominantly focused on cross‐reef dynamics, this manuscript examines the along-shore dynamics. This is done through using observations of a Hawaiian fringing reef system to quantify the dominant terms in the depth‐averaged alongshore momentum … Read More

With an El Niño watch ongoing this winter, this recent publication with lead author Adam Young looks back at the 2015-2016 El Niño response along the Southern California coastline, particularly focusing on the morphodynamic changes (erosion/accretion) seen along our beaches, estuaries, and cliffs. Key findings are that the coastal change is highly variable spatially with some regions showing erosion, some showing … Read More

A new paper highlights some results from our CSIDE study was recently released in the Journal of Physical Oceangraphy. “Cross-Shore Deformation of a Surfzone-Released Dye Plume by an Internal Tide on the Inner Shelf” led by graduate student Derek Grimes, describes 2015 observations of the fate of a dye plume released in the surfzone as it was deformed by an … Read More

Graduate student Angelica Rodriguez just published her research results in Geophysical Research Letters (with co-authors Giddings and Kumar (UW)) and is highlighted in the Scripps news. The paper, “Impacts of Nearshore Wave‐Current Interaction on Transport and Mixing of Small‐Scale Buoyant Plumes” uses idealized modeling of the interaction between small buoyant plumes (e.g., rivers, creeks, storm drains, etc.) and the surfzone … Read More

This important question is addressed in a new paper “Expected limits on the ocean acidification buffering potential of a temperate seagrass meadow,” led by David Koweek at the Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford. A press-release from the Carnegie Institution and a blog post by David Koweek do an excellent job summarizing the paper in detail. This … Read More

This summer Alex Makic and Adrian Urrea have been working in the lab as undergraduate researchers. Alex, from Colorado College, majoring in Physics with an Emphasis in Environmental Science, worked for a month in the lab on helping to analyze drone imagery taken above Los Penasquitos Lagoon and adjacent beaches to examine morphological changes over time as part of a California … Read More

18 – 21 June 2018, Giddings attended and presented at the NSF sponsored Workshop on the future of coastal and estuarine modeling. Presentations ranged from numerical discretization schemes, to nonhydrostatic versus hydrostatic code, to the state of the art in wave model-hydrodynamic model coupling. It was a very interesting several days discussing where we are in coastal and estuarine modeling … Read More

13 June 2018 – The EPA hosted a kickoff meeting for two new Border 2020 funded projects aiming to reduce coastal water pollution along the US/Mexico Pacific border. Falk Feddersen and Sarah Giddings presented an introduction to their recently funded Border 2020 Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC) project entitled: “Evaluating the 2017 Tijuana River Estuary cross-border wastewater spill sources and … Read More

12 June 2018, Students completing the Master of Advanced Studies in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation presented their capstone projects at the Annual Capstone Symposium. Kelsey Miller, who Giddings has been working with over the Winter and Spring quarters 2018, presented her project: Tribal Intertidal Digital Ecological Survey (TIDES) Project: A Conservation Technology Partnership with Coastal Indigenous Nations Advisors: Dr. Jennifer E. Smith (Chair), Scripps … Read More

Forgot to take pictures, but we all went out to lunch as a lab to welcome Alma Castillo Trujillo for a short visit who will be joining the lab in September 2018 as a postdoc. Great to have such a wonderful group of people!!