Masks and vaccinations are recommended. Plan your visit
Oceans & Water
Bay Windows
Five clear, rotating disks provide beautiful windows onto the motion of sediments in the Bay. Spin them to compare the behavior of gravel, sand, and fine silt—how the currents carry them and how they settle out of the swirling waters.
Where: Koret Foundation Bay Walk
Color of Water
Water reflects the blue of the sky, but if you look down into it, its color is based mostly on the green of marine algae—phytoplankton—and the brown of suspended silt. This array of color chips lets viewers determine what’s influencing the color of water today.
Where: Gallery 5: Outdoor Exhibits
Confused Sea
Air blowing over the surface of water inside a large Plexiglas hemisphere mimics the action of the wind over the ocean by generating waves. The waves slowly change and build until the entire volume of water is circulating as one wave. Viewers can adjust the speed of the air blower and influence the building of the waves.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Disappearing Rings
Lower these rings into the Bay and see just how far you can see into the water. One of the San Francisco Bay’s defining features, sediment flows from the delta change with the seasons. This exhibit is based on a scientific observational instrument called a “secchi disk,” which scientists use to determine water clarity.
Where: Gallery 5: Outdoor Exhibits
Fluvial Storm
Swirling water sculpts elaborate patterns of underwater dunes.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Glass Settling Plate
Almost any hard object submerged in San Francisco Bay—from pier pilings to the sides of sailboats—quickly becomes a habitat for an ever-changing community of living things. Here you can use a joystick-driven microscope to take a tour of the wonderland of living creatures that have settled on a glass plate that has spent some time submerged in the Bay.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Life on the Rocks
All these organisms are adapted to life in California's rocky tidal zone.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Living Systems Explainer Station
Explainers do biology and botany demonstrations.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Mapping Migrations
This interactive data visualization reveals the migration tracks of sharks, whales, sea turtles, tuna, and other marine creatures, and lets visitors explore differences in timing, geographic location, and male versus female migration routes.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Native Oyster Colony
Get a closer look at live, Olympia oysters, native to San Francisco.
Where: Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6: Observing Landscapes
Pier Piling Pivot
This exhibit uses a geared motor to swing a specially designed piling out of the water so that visitors can examine it in detail. An accompanying legend identifies the intertidal zones on the piling and the species of plant and animal life occupying this unique shoreline environment.
Where: Gallery 5: Outdoor Exhibits
Plankton Populations
Different types of phytoplankton multiply or die off in response to changing ocean conditions.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Plankton Rainbow
Plankton can distinguish between different colors of light.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Research Buoy
This NOAA buoy gathers data on CO2 levels, which are increasing in our oceans and affecting marine life.
Where: Gallery 5: Outdoor Exhibits
Saltscapes
The South San Francisco Bay salt evaporation ponds take on a variety of colors due to halophilic organisms that adapt to various salinities. Photographer Cris Benton captures this vibrant landscape in a series of aerial photos taken from homemade kite-cameras flown over the ponds.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Tidal Flow
Floating orange arrows turn a series of leftover pilings into a visual representation of water movement into and out of the Bay. As tides rise and fall, the arrows travel up and down the pilings, swiveling to point the direction of the water flow.
Where: This exhibit is not currently on view.
Tidal Memory
Twenty-four columns record twenty-four hours of tide water levels.
Where: Gallery 4: Living Systems
Water Waves—Time Horizon
Water Waves is a multi-monitor video installation and time-horizon study of the power and beauty of ocean waves.
Wave Organ
Sound at this wave-activated acoustic sculpture is created by the impact of waves against the pipe ends and the subsequent movement of the water in and out of the pipes. The sound heard at the site is subtle, requiring visitors to become sensitized to its music, and at the same time to the music of the environment.
Where: San Francisco Marina jetty
What Lives Here?
See what living things have attached themselves to our sampling plate.
Where: Gallery 5: Outdoor Exhibits
