E's Surf Report: E's Oceanography Lesson #1

Alright class, sit down, sit DOWN! We are going to have a little lesson today on what we call Oceanography. Can you spell O-C-E-A-N-O-G-R-A-P-H-Y?

Seriously now, here is some stuff I have always been interested in so maybe you might be too........

Upwelling:

Atmospheric winds generate horizontal currents that move around the ocean's surface. Wind can also generate vertical water motions in processes called upwelling and downwelling. When wind blows over water, the surface water does not move directly in front of the wind but moves about 45 degrees toward the right of the wind's motion in the Northern Hemisphere (Figure 1). This process is called Ekman transport and is a result of the Coriolis effect. In the Southern Hemisphere, surface water is deflected to the left of the wind's motion. Where winds cause the surface water to move away from a coastline or to diverge from another surface water mass, deeper water will move up to the ocean surface, creating an upwelling current. Where winds cause the surface water to move toward a coastline or to converge with another water mass, the surface water will try to move downward to create a downwelling current. For example, northerly winds are common in the summer along the California coast. Winds moving from north to south cause surface water to move toward the west, away from the coastline. Upwelling currents are created, which bring deeper, colder water to the surface. Our coastal waters are cold because of these cold upwelling currents and because of the cold California current (eastern boundary current).

Whereas surface waters are usually depleted of nutrients such as phosphates and nitrates that are critical to plant growth, deeper waters have high concentrations of these nutrients. Upwelling replenishes the surface layers with the nutritional components necessary for biological productivity. Regions of upwelling are among the richest biological areas of the world.

SF Bay Coastline:

Fault lines in SF Bay:

Look closely. You may notice a major fault line running right through Pacifica and Daly City, cutting right along OB. I am curious if we would see a major shift in near shore topography if we had a BIG ONE! Anyone...... Blakestah.......

So, as you might have determined, there was not surf for me today. Winds seem to have lessoned this morning at least at the shoreline but still howling out at sea. I can only think or a few places I would even attempt to surf right now and in all cases the rate of gasoline consumption to surfing enjoyment is way in favor of the major oil companies. So, maybe Chopes will turn on today and we can focus on that. Otherwise, I am going to sit hear and daydream about my 6'6'' Retro Egg with some sick-ass resin tints and ignore all the negative flow that comes my way........

Hopefully I will be faced with this dilemma in the near future:

Also, check this out, looks SWEET....

Posted by: mario rubalcaba at May 11, 2004 10:05 AM

I doubt it. There is a whole lotta sand sitting around in front of the Gate, sculpted by tidal currents and waves. These are especially sculpted near the equinoxes. Even if a big one occurred, the tides would continue to do their work, bringing sand to the beach in the spring and summer, and moving it out in the fall and winter.

Weather outlook is bleak. Anyone for a cruise down one of the many fine sk8ting hills?

Posted by: blakestah at May 11, 2004 10:34 AM

Thanks for the lesson. Will this be on the final?
And thanks for the pointer about winds out at sea---I'd been almost lured by the low coastal wind reports to check out the surf today (which I shouldn't have done anyway, given all the work I have to get done).

Interesting yesterday to hear of a former UCSD philosophy grad student now teaching at U. Sydney who's a big surfer. I'm in the philosophy industry myself, and given the size of that community I may well know him.

Question: what do you all do if anything to protect your ears?

Posted by: Klooless Kook at May 11, 2004 10:39 AM

that's funny. kaiser spent the last three weeks prepping for the lecture and used chinese arithmetic and blakestah give the equation in the time it took to type.

just like me and good will hunting.

smart mother fuckers......good lesson though, nice work kaiser.

Posted by: tom at May 11, 2004 10:47 AM

now that was a great post! all these years i always thought upwelling was just caused by the wind, little did i know about ekman transport and the coriolis effect and all the little things that go into making up my simpleton thought of "wind pushes cold water up". word.

tomorrow's lesson on the krebs cycle? sheesh, i'm going to have to study up for these posts.

that quiver looks like fun, just walking out in the garage and seeing that would put a smile on your face.

EARFMUFFS!

Posted by: j at May 11, 2004 10:49 AM

Ear protection. Wear plugs and/or hood, usually both. Flush ear canals with rubbing alcohol post session.

Posted by: blakestah at May 11, 2004 10:54 AM

Kaiser,
We have a job waiting for you here at my school

Check out the pics of Rick from the ol Big Yank at Tavi

Posted by: mexisurf at May 11, 2004 10:58 AM

tryen it again

Posted by: mexisurf at May 11, 2004 11:03 AM

"he who conquers others is strong; he who conquers himself is mighty"

-lao tzu

Posted by: j at May 11, 2004 11:06 AM

Mexisurf...please do not post spot names.

Posted by: tom at May 11, 2004 11:08 AM

blakestah- i'm always down for a skate sesh. anyone else? springtime niceness skateness? for what SF may lack in surf conditions there is no place in the world with better hill skating...

Posted by: luke at May 11, 2004 11:22 AM

OB: Sunshine not withstanding, it's like " The Perfect Storm" for smurfs. Happy....windsurfing?

Hysterical page from Bruce's surfhumor site. "The Battle of Saint Crespi's" is all time:
http://www.surfhumor.com/Classic%20Lit.htm

Hey school-of-wooden-boat-building-Ben, check out the front page of the Wall Street Journal today. Man built a 50 footer in his backyard, now it's stuck there. [ He's also trying to give it away! ]

Posted by: s.s. sharkbait at May 11, 2004 11:23 AM

Back to the new board discussion that started (or resumed) yesterday-

So does anyone out there have one of the Schultze performance fish that Blakestah mentioned ? I ordered one a couple of weeks ago & am wondering what to expect. I haven't had much experience with fish but wanted something that wasn't a longboard for the summertime mush. I ordered it a little bit on the big side - 6'8". I thought the 6'3' or whatever he has in the shop looked pretty cool.

Posted by: eric at May 11, 2004 11:32 AM

Oh snizzle, you want to do the Kreb's Cycle tomorrow? Let me dust off my old Physiology text books from college.

Posted by: Kaiser at May 11, 2004 11:54 AM

mmm....vitamin C.....

Posted by: j at May 11, 2004 11:57 AM

so, i'm all for SK8TING. anyone want to car pool to one of the many peninsula parks? redwood city is awesome and sunnyvale is awesomer.

to avoid scandal, im just going to name the ocean that i surf in when i'm posting... the real hook is that i will spell it backwards so that it will take a genious to figure it out. ex. "i just scored wicked cificap naeco surf.... so epic! Minute long barrels! Effing incridible!!"

also anyone willing to gamble, i'll shape a fish or egg for cost and a beer or two.

enjoy the wind everyone!

peace.

Posted by: elias at May 11, 2004 12:12 PM

Elias, we should hook up once winds chill out, the Hickey board needs a thorough going over. Bill did some interesting things that help with the ride with the RFS. Just drop me a line later in the week...

Posted by: blakestah at May 11, 2004 12:25 PM

sounds good!

Posted by: elias at May 11, 2004 12:28 PM

Sharky-

What I need is an article from a young woman discussing the silliness of male surfers in general, and crusty locals in particular. Time to fish or cut bait!

Posted by: Bruce at May 11, 2004 12:43 PM

blakestah - I wanted to say thanks for the low-down on Bill's movements in your post yesterday. I just got off the phone with him. He's busy like crazy, but has slotted me in. I should have plenty of time to set the cash aside before he completes my board. Bill is the real-fucking-deal - I have absolute, total respect for the man. He's always made a point to come over, say hello and talk to me at all the SF Surfshop parties and gatherings. This is something I really appreciate, given my (believe it , or not) usual shyness at those sort of events. I feel terrible about missing the service for his wife last month. I didn't find out about it until afterwards.
Kaiser - Ekman transport, Coriolis effect - I had a long discussion last year with one of the oceanographers from the Romberg Tiburon Center last year about all that crazy stuff. I happened to mention the words, "...springtime upwelling ..." and he got all excited. The guy was NUTS about it. Great conversation.

Posted by: Jimmie at May 11, 2004 12:46 PM

ugh, home sick and my head is trying to
explode. good timing with these winds I spose?
s.s. will have a look see at that article ;)--and thanks to everyone who chimed in with encouragement--I'm super excited for next year, but always pretty nervous with new endeavors, so it really was great to get so much positive feedback. grazie mille!
s.s. turns out I might work on building a norse boat next year if the money holds out. It'd be great if I could hammer out my own axe & adz for it with the blacksmith instructor, eh?

and kaiser--love the oceanography lesson! cheers

Posted by: ben at May 11, 2004 01:06 PM

Tom, I think it is safe to post any surf spot's name if it has non-native exclusive rights to a spot and caters to pros and yuppies, holds a major ASP surf event, has been featured in endless mags and covers and is booked solid for more than year in advance.

Posted by: mexisurf at May 11, 2004 01:11 PM

sweet leson Kaiser, so many big words though..elias, ive surfed a couple of fish and enjoyed them at that fish fest, not sure im ready to throw down the duckets for a fancy one (not that yours wouldnt be fancy) and ive seen your photos of unglassed boards and was pretty impressed..so shit i might be down for that..i would pay for supply's too as well as beers. let me know. bagel@doublefine.com

Posted by: bagel at May 11, 2004 01:19 PM

what bagel said. my email address is in my post.

Posted by: j at May 11, 2004 01:59 PM

Hey, they put one of my pics on the home page at SurferMag. Can I quit my desk job now?

http://www.surfermag.com/index.html

Posted by: Bruce at May 11, 2004 02:10 PM

Exactly Mexisurf.

That's why I though my post was funny.

Even I was there in '00 when I was a yuppy, kook, tranny, dot commie.....and a barney.

Posted by: tom at May 11, 2004 02:13 PM

Nice shot bruce! and congrats......

Posted by: mexisurf at May 11, 2004 02:14 PM

nice one bruce!

Posted by: bagel at May 11, 2004 02:21 PM

yo mario,

nice piece. is it yours? can you translate the characters for me?
are you the same mario that used rip it up on a skateboard? you had a dope style. if so, then you're also an amazing drummer. i used to love clikitat ikatowi.

peace

Posted by: rza at May 11, 2004 02:44 PM

Tom,
It is probably all a worthless anyhow...

Posted by: mexisurf at May 11, 2004 03:25 PM

Bruce....sweet!!! nice work gettin' in the spotlight!! i look forward to seein' more o' your work gettin' picked up in the future!

Posted by: ck at May 11, 2004 03:30 PM

nice pic Bruce! congrats.

it's only day 1 without surf, already i'm getting edgy. keep the fish talk comin, helps to think about my next board ...

manny, you out there? any plans for a summertime fish fest??

Posted by: loon at May 11, 2004 03:34 PM

can you send me the URL of where you got that topo info for the coastline? looks great.

Posted by: jacob at May 11, 2004 03:47 PM

Time for a reality check:
http://www.consumptionjunction.com/content/detail.asp?ID=34947&type=1&page=1&fav=0

Posted by: Sirf Anjel at May 11, 2004 04:06 PM

Posted by: at May 11, 2004 04:12 PM

that fuckin video is gnarly just read the article and look at the pictures instead unless you want to really be mentaly fucked up...

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6172.htm

Posted by: at May 11, 2004 04:18 PM

Qaeda don't surf

Posted by: Col. Kilgore at May 11, 2004 04:47 PM

A major rupture on the San Andreas shouldn't affect any SF break as the fault is too far off-shore. The fault leaves landfall south of Pacifica around Devils Slide. A rupture there may increase erosion and therefore sediment transport to the sea. This could temporarily change spots around Montara, but Blakestah is right, the tides and currents are too strong and will eventually erase any evidence of the rupture.

North of the city, the channel at BoBo is literally on the San Andreas. A rupture there could seriously change the location of the channel, morphology of the lagoon and the sandbars (plus swallow you up if you're out philosophizing...j/k).

Posted by: copious at May 11, 2004 04:48 PM

Posted by: bagel at May 11, 2004 05:18 PM

Nice pic Bruce. Mexisurf-thanks for the map. I was trying to find that spot last week. Must have driven right past it. Is that a vegitarian restaurant?

Posted by: Dennis at May 11, 2004 05:26 PM

No point deductions for spelling!

Posted by: Dennis at May 11, 2004 05:27 PM

DOH! or is it DOE!??

Posted by: mexisurf at May 11, 2004 05:53 PM

DOE a deer, a female deer

Posted by: j at May 11, 2004 06:00 PM

Hey, another picture of me at the Jetty, thanks Bagel!

Bruce: great shot! Sorely tempted to take you up on article but, hm dunno about extra procrastination , or pissing people off. Needless to say, if you ask females for stories you'd be overwhelmed - I've got buckets of silly encounters already, something goofy every time. It's rampant. Heard some classics from a friend. If you're a woman standing or drowning around in a wetsuit, EVERYBODY will talk to you, and I don't even mean lewd encounters. Also tons of really,uh, stellar unsolicited advice. Did you know that the water is cold? Did you know that there are sharks in Northern California? Did you know you should be surfing in Waikiki? Did you know that Pisces is a stronger water sign than Cancer? Ahh haha

Posted by: s.s. sharkbait at May 11, 2004 06:47 PM

Sharkbait - classic surf report, earlier ("The Perfect Storm for smurfs...").
You really should do that article for Bruce. Your "unsolicited advise" list reminded me of a
sailboarder I heard about. He used to hang out near the Marina Green, offering to help female sailboarders get into their wetsuits. A real gentleman!

Posted by: Jimmie at May 11, 2004 07:34 PM

i am doing a oral report on oceanography.What could my visual aid be ?

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