Scripps Institution of Oceanography
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Scripps Institution of Oceanography (sometimes referred to as SIO, Scripps Oceanography or just Scripps) in La Jolla, California, is one of the oldest and largest centers for ocean and earth science research, graduate training, and public service in the world. Hundreds of ocean and earth researchers conduct scientific research with the aid of oceanographic research vessels and shorebased laboratories. The public explorations center of the institution is the Birch Aquarium at Scripps.
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[edit] Mission statement
To seek, teach, and communicate scientific understanding of the oceans, atmosphere, Earth, and other planets for the benefit of society and the environment.
[edit] Research programs
The institution's research programs encompass biological, physical, chemical, geological, and geophysical studies of the oceans and earth. 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 doctoral degrees in Oceanography, Marine Biology, and Earth Sciences.
Today, the Scripps staff of 1,300 includes approximately 100 faculty, 300 other scientists and some 225 graduate students, with an annual budget of more than $140 million. The institution operates a fleet of four oceanographic research vessels and the research platform R/P FLIP (Floating Instrument Platform) for oceanographic research and has served as manager of the Deep Sea Drilling Program.
[edit] History
Scripps Institution of Oceanography was founded in 1903 as the Marine Biological Association of San Diego,an independent biological research laboratory by University of California Zoology professor William Emerson Ritter, with support from Ellen Browning Scripps and later her brother E. W. Scripps. They fully funded Scripps for the first several years. Scripps began institutional life in the boathouse of the Hotel Coronado located on San Diego Bay. Thereafter it re-located in 1905 to La Jolla on the head above La Jolla Cove, and finally in 1907 to its present location.
In 1912 Scripps became part of the University of California and was renamed the "Scripps Institution for Biological Research". 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 (UCSD) on a bluff overlooking Scripps Institution.
[edit] Research vessels
The research vessels and platforms currently operated by Scripps Institution of Oceanography are:
- R/P FLIP
- R/V Roger Revelle (AGOR-24)
- R/V Melville (AGOR-14)
- R/V New Horizon
- R/V Robert Gordon Sproul
[edit] Birch Aquarium at Scripps
The mission of the Birch Aquarium at Scripps is:
- to provide ocean science education
- to interpret Scripps research
- to promote ocean conservation
For more than a century, generations of families have discovered the ocean world through exhibits and educational programs of the aquarium-museum associated with Scripps Institution of Oceanography. From modest displays at the turn-of-the-century to magnificent habitats in the present, the role of the aquarium-museum in Scripps Oceanography's legacy is important. Today, more than 370,000 people visit Birch Aquarium at Scripps each year.
The Birch Aquarium, has an number of exhibits and hands-on activities. These include:
- The Hall of Fishes with more than 60 tanks of Pacific fishes and invertebrates; the largest habitat is a 70,000-gallon kelp forest.
- Scripps Explorers Gallery, featuring cutting-edge discoveries of Scripps explorers in climate, earth, and ocean sciences through interactive exhibits
- Preuss Tidepool Plaza, overlooking the Pacific Ocean, with living tide pools for discovery
- Smargon Courtyard, also overlooking coastal bluffs, features a 13,000-gallon shark reef tank and Wonders of Water play stations. Seasonal events take place here during the year.
The aquarium's hilltop site provides a spectacular overview of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography campus and the Pacific Ocean.
[edit] See also
- The Scripps Research Institute, a neighboring, but completely independent medical research institute.
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a similar research facility on the east coast of the USA.
[edit] Further reading
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography centennial website
- 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.
[edit] External links
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography
- explorations E-Magazine
- Scripps News
- Support Scripps
- Scripps Education Department
- 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
