Why Are Scientists Dyeing the Ocean Pink?
b'Why is the ocean \\u2014 and this team of researchers \\u2014 looking pretty in pink? For science! Scientists at UC San Diego\\u2019s Scripps Institution of Oceanography have launched the PiNC (Plumes in Nearshore Conditions) experiment to study the coastal zone where a river meets the ocean. Using a non-toxic, environmentally safe pink dye and a suite of instruments, researchers released the dye in the mouth of the Los Pe\\xf1asquitos Lagoon at Torrey Pines State Beach near San Diego, California in the winter of 2023. \\n\\nRivers and estuaries play an important role in delivering freshwater and materials such as sediments and contaminants to the coastal ocean, but little is known about how these plumes of more buoyant, fresher water interact with the denser, saltier and often colder nearshore ocean environment, particularly as the plumes encounter breaking waves. This experiment enables scientists to track the processes that take place when small-scale plumes of freshwater meet the surfzone. Series: "Scripps Institution of Oceanography" [Science] [Show ID: 38739]'