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Surfing for Data

WHOI coastal oceanographers Britt Raubenheimer (blue-purple wetsuit) and Steve Elgar (black suit at right) join colleagues from three institutions in setting up instrument tripods and cables in the surf zone near Black’s Beach in La Jolla, California. In the fall 2003 Nearshore Canyon Experiment, each instrument was wired to a station back on the beach, allowing investigators to measure water velocity and pressure (a proxy for wave height) in real time without getting smacked down by the waves.

(Photo by Rachel Horwitz, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)