Learn with us online while the Exploratorium is temporarily closed. You can help us reopen—donate today.
The Wired Pier is an array of sensitive instruments around the Exploratorium campus at Piers 15 and 17, measuring and recording conditions in the environment—the weather, Bay water, pollution, and more. We're displaying the live data on this website and in the Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery. We're also archiving the data so that the public and our scientific partners can explore patterns and trends in the atmosphere, oceans, and urban landscape.
The Data Explorer lets you examine our environmental data archive. Compare different types of measurements—such as rainfall, water temperature, or carbon dioxide—and see what you can discover.
You’ve seen high and low tides at the beach. Get to know the daily and monthly cycles of the tides, why they change every day, and how they affect San Francisco Bay.
See how the salinity, or saltiness, of Bay water rises and falls with the tides, and what many years of salinity data reveals about California’s climate.
Learn more about the natural processes behind the numbers. These do-it-yourself activities let you try things like building a device to measure the saltiness of water, or learning about the link between gravity and tides.
Consider ways our landscape holds traces of the past and glimmers of the future.
Can you predict when Bay water will be at its warmest? Or coldest? You can if you take a look at some graphs from our Data Explorer.
See how our data collection supports scientific data networks and research, and helps educate students and the public.
Check out a bird’s-eye view of our piers and see where our field station sensors are and what kinds of data they’re gathering.
The Exploratorium periodically hosts ocean research and exploration vessels at Pier 17.
by Mary Miller • April 21, 2020
On a global scale, there has been an unprecedented drop in air pollution, particulates and carbon dioxide emissions from the planetary shelter in place. This is a rare opportunity for scientists who study the atmosphere to document the changes and watch for patterns that can guide policy and actions to improve our future climate and air quality.
by Mary Miller • January 18, 2019
We love our science agencies and the dedicated public servants who work for the American public, we’re feeling their absence in small and large ways.
by Mary Miller • February 1, 2018
Surfers for the Maverick’s surf competition near San Francisco are pinning their hopes on Pacific storms, lots of data and some well-honed algorithms.
