Today's Sea Surface Temperature

at Scripps Pier in La Jolla:

Note: sometimes the daily temperature is not taken

Daily Sea Surface Temperature & Salinity measured since 1916

Daily Sea Bottom Temperature & Salinity measured since 1926

Sampling Location: sampling well at end of Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Pier

Location Coordinates: 32° 52' 01.0" N, 117° 15' 25.7" W

Total number of Shore Station samples collected at Scripps Pier:

See how the daily temperature reading compares to the long term average:

In the plot above, you can find the most recent temperature data written out in the top left corner, with the sampling date and Sea Surface Temperature (SST) in degrees Celsius and degrees Fahrenheit. This most recent data point is shown on the plot in pink. You can compare this to the average temperature of that given day since 1916 (shown with the dark blue line), to see if it is warmer (above the dark blue line) or colder (below the dark blue line) than the long-term average. You can also see sea surface temperature every day from the start of the present year by looking at the light blue dots. Any light blue dots below the dark blue line show that ocean temperature has been colder than average and any light blue dots above the dark blue line show that ocean temperature has been warmer than average. The plot below is the same, except it shows the bottom temperatures from Scripps Pier, La Jolla Shore Station since 1926.

Photo by Erik Jepsen

Scripps staff, Birch aquarists, and volunteers take daily temperature and salinity samples from the end of the Scripps Pier at the sea surface and near the bottom at a depth of about 5 meters. A well extending through the base of the pier in the tide gauge room enables sampling bottles to be lowered in most weather conditions.The proximity of Scripps Pier to the deep waters at the head of La Jolla submarine canyon results in data quite representative of oceanic conditions.

Scripps Pier is a total of 1084 ft. long (330.4 M) and 22.5 ft. wide for most of its length. However it is 46.0 ft. wide at the end where the lab/pump house structure is situated with the west wall standing 88.0 ft. from the end of the pier (=996 ft. from the shore). The orientation is 277 / 97 degrees magnetic, 14 degrees East variation. The deck of the pier is 33.5 ft. above Mean Low Low Water (MLLW).

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS Scripps pier, la jolla DATA FROM 1916-CURRENT

Below are figures that we have modeled after the #ShowYourStripes Campaign (created by Ed Hawkins), to help us visualize how sea surface and bottom temperature have changed at the Scripps Pier in La Jolla since 1916 and 1926, respectively. The change in temperature is relative to the average temperature calculated between 1916-2022 (surface) and 1926-2022 (bottom).

Shore Station temperature indices from Scripps Pier are being used to provide historical context for understanding large-scale physical phenomena like El Niño–Southern Oscillation events

The Spray data team, who is part of the Instrument Development Group at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, developed the California Underwater Glider Network (CUGN) in 2005 to monitor the effects of El Niño in the California Current System (CCS). They use their glider measurements of the CCS to create the Southern California Temperature Index (SCTI). The Scripps Pier Shore Station data provides historical context for the glider temperature measurements. The plot below, created by the Spray data team, shows the overlap of Shore Station temperature data and glider temperature data. Learn more about the work the Spray data team is doing with El Niño here.

Below you can see a plot showing Monthly Sea Surface Temperature Averages from the Scripps Pier, La Jolla Shore Station, split up by decade, since 1970.

Recent Data