Tag: scripps institution of oceanography

The Legendary Leopards of La Jolla Shores

In celebration of National Shark Week, UCTV visits the Birch Aquarium to hear from an expert on leopard sharks, Andy Nosal, a Ph.D. student of Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Leopard sharks are a special species of shark found only along the West coast of North America, their territory spanning from Washington to Baja California. A distinctive characteristic of these creatures is their mild temperament. Unlike most sharks, which will bite anything that might be food, leopard sharks are timid and have such small mouths that they pose essentially no danger to humans. In fact, a leopard shark bite on a human has never been recorded by the International Shark Attack File.

Every Summer La Jolla Shores is the gathering site of hundreds of leopard sharks. A common misconception of this behavior is that these sharks convene here to mate or give birth, but in fact scientists are not quite certain what they do at this annual conference.

Watch “Local Legends: The Leopard Sharks of La Jolla Shores” to see what Nosal has determined about why these sharks flock to La Jolla Shores and what they do there.

Check out more programs about sharks.

See what other programs are available in the Perspectives on Ocean Science series!

Tuning into the Sounds of Our Dynamic Planet

Did you know there are unheard sounds in the Earth’s atmosphere that can travel all the way around the world?

Dr. Michael Hedlin of UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography explains that when massive events occur in the atmosphere low frequency sounds are generated that can be received all over the earth, depending on the magnitude of the event. Much like when there is an earthquake and seismic waves can be read on seismometers around the planet.

Although we cannot hear these sounds because of their low frequencies, there is still a lot they can tell us about things like volcanic eruptions and meteorite impacts.

Listen in as Michael Hedlin discusses what we can learn from the Earth’s atmosphere’s frequencies in “Listening to Earth’s Atmosphere: Tuning into the Sounds of Our Dynamic Planet”

Check out other videos in the Perspectives on Ocean Science Series presented by Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Climate Justice: A Humanitarian Approach to Environmental Equality

We have all heard about climate change, but did you know that there is a fight for justice within this claim?

Climate justice is more than just a demand for the stop of wrongful damage to the environment. It goes deeper into the tangible effects of climate change and the way they are unequally effecting the world’s population.

According to the Center on Global Justice at UC San Diego, “Climate Justice links human rights and development to achieve a human-centered approach, safeguarding the rights of the most vulnerable and sharing the burdens and benefits of climate change and its resolution equitably and fairly. Climate justice is informed by science, responds to science, and acknowledges the need for equitable stewardship of the world’s resources.”

Mary Robinson was the first woman president of Ireland and has served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She has been a long standing icon for social justice and has recently devoted her attention to campaigning for climate justice.

In “Pursuing Climate Justice with Mary Robinson and V. Ramanathan,” presented by UC San Diego’s Center on Global Justice, hear Robinson discuss climate justice with V. Ramanathan, distinguished professor of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

If you like this video, check out V. Ramanathan’s series “Lifting the Blanket:The Pursuit of a Climate Change Solutions.”

Climate Change Hasn't Changed

In “An Inconvenient Truth,” Al Gore presents his case on climate change based on the “Keeling Curve,” measurements of the increasing levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere.

These first records of rising CO2 levels were taken in the 1950’s by Charles David Keeling of UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

Even then scientists were aware of the green house effect created by CO2 in the earth’s atmosphere.  Keeling tracked the increasing levels of CO2 for decades, but it didn’t take long for him to link the rising CO2 levels with the burning of fossil fuels. Although it was known that the burning of fossil fuels created CO2, it was widely believed that the ocean absorbed all of that excess carbon dioxide. Keeling was the first person to prove that CO2 was accumulating in the atmosphere, as it still is today.

In “The Scientific Case for Urgent Action to Limit Climate Change,” Distinguished Professor Emeritus Richard Somerville of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography presents a case based on some of the initial measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere taken by Keeling.

In this video, Somerville further explains this research and his ideas for how to reduce the emissions causing climate change. If you want more information on climate change and ocean science, check out the “Perspectives on Ocean Science” series.

Ocean Science Surpasses 10 Million!

When people want to learn about the ocean, they turn to Birch Aquarium at Scripps’ “Perspectives on Ocean Science” lecture series, available on TV and online through UCSD-TV and its sister station, UCTV.

How do we know? The collection of 130+ videos, available on the channels’ websites, YouTube and iTunes, just surpassed 10 million views, making it UCSD’s most popular science series and UCTV’s 14th most popular series, out of a whopping 350!

Learn more about this accomplishment and the importance of Birch Aquarium‘s public outreach program, then dive in to the “Perspectives on Ocean Science” video archive! Stay tuned April 10 at 8pm for the TV premiere of the latest installment, “Genetics and Gray Whale Behavior,” which is also available online now.