Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Surf and dye in Imperial Beach

Scripps drops 30 gallons of colorant into ocean to monitor currents

Purple wave, purple wave...
Purple wave, purple wave...

Morning beachgoers in Imperial Beach on September 23rd found surprising colors in the ocean after bright pink tracer dye was released by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in an experiment to study the movement of water along the coastline.

"There's something wrong," one mother with children was overheard as saying as she approached the shore and saw the pink, red, and magenta colors in the sea. "That's just gross," Tricia Baglioni posted a "purple wave" on Facebook while Elsa Galam Lessner asked, “Is it red tide?"

From his station on the shore, Falk Feddersen, acting professor of Scripps' Integrative Oceanography Division, described the 30 gallons of harmless dye as "like a fake pollution bomb" to be used to understand actual water pollution when it occurs.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Though the test was just starting, Feddersen said they were already getting some surprising results from aerial photos. "We thought it would rocket in a plume up the surf zone up the coast," Feddersen said. "It did that for a while but then the dye just went offshore, and then it decided it wanted to go to Mexico. It basically did a U-turn."

The experiment will help measure the movement of such things as contaminants and larvae in the “nearshore region” where people and ecosystems are affected, according to the Scripps Institution.

By coincidence, the beach was still officially closed to bathers and surfers on the day of the experiment due to possible contamination after the record-breaking rainfall on September 15. Imperial Beach is often closed after rainstorms due to sewage-contaminated runoff from the Tijuana River.

Imperial Beach mayor Serge Dedina said he was concerned that the beach was still closed a full week after the rainstorm, saying that there were indications that the contamination had abated. "We're trying to get the beach open now,” he said, “and we're trying to find out why it’s still closed.”

Feddersen said that even though the dye may not be visible to the eye after a few hours, the Scripps team will be using monitors to continue measuring the movement of the dye until Friday, when all the data will be collected for analysis.

Scripps will do the test again on October 5th during an expected ocean swell in order to test the water exchange patterns under different conditions, Feddersen said.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Reader Music Issue short takes

Obervatory's mosh pit, frenetic Rafael Payare, Lemonhead chaos, bleedforthescene, Coronado Tasting Room
Next Article

Angry Pete’s goes from pop-up to drive-thru

Detroit Pizza sidles into the husk of a shuttered Taco Bell
Purple wave, purple wave...
Purple wave, purple wave...

Morning beachgoers in Imperial Beach on September 23rd found surprising colors in the ocean after bright pink tracer dye was released by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in an experiment to study the movement of water along the coastline.

"There's something wrong," one mother with children was overheard as saying as she approached the shore and saw the pink, red, and magenta colors in the sea. "That's just gross," Tricia Baglioni posted a "purple wave" on Facebook while Elsa Galam Lessner asked, “Is it red tide?"

From his station on the shore, Falk Feddersen, acting professor of Scripps' Integrative Oceanography Division, described the 30 gallons of harmless dye as "like a fake pollution bomb" to be used to understand actual water pollution when it occurs.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Though the test was just starting, Feddersen said they were already getting some surprising results from aerial photos. "We thought it would rocket in a plume up the surf zone up the coast," Feddersen said. "It did that for a while but then the dye just went offshore, and then it decided it wanted to go to Mexico. It basically did a U-turn."

The experiment will help measure the movement of such things as contaminants and larvae in the “nearshore region” where people and ecosystems are affected, according to the Scripps Institution.

By coincidence, the beach was still officially closed to bathers and surfers on the day of the experiment due to possible contamination after the record-breaking rainfall on September 15. Imperial Beach is often closed after rainstorms due to sewage-contaminated runoff from the Tijuana River.

Imperial Beach mayor Serge Dedina said he was concerned that the beach was still closed a full week after the rainstorm, saying that there were indications that the contamination had abated. "We're trying to get the beach open now,” he said, “and we're trying to find out why it’s still closed.”

Feddersen said that even though the dye may not be visible to the eye after a few hours, the Scripps team will be using monitors to continue measuring the movement of the dye until Friday, when all the data will be collected for analysis.

Scripps will do the test again on October 5th during an expected ocean swell in order to test the water exchange patterns under different conditions, Feddersen said.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Reader 2024 Music & Arts Issue

Favorite fakers: Baby Bushka, Fleetwood Max, Electric Waste Band, Oceans, Geezer – plus upcoming tribute schedule
Next Article

Croome Brothers Trio, Jack Tempchin, Ricky, Swami & the Bed Of Nails, Kahlil Nash

Acoustic and electric in Del Mar, La Jolla, Little Italy, and City Heights
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.