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Ocean Discovery Month
Celebrate and learn about the ocean this summer at the Exploratorium.
Wednesday, August 1–Monday, September 9, 2018
Included with museum admission.
All Ages
Celebrate Ocean Discovery Month this summer at the Exploratorium, and explore your connection to the ocean through daily hands-on activities, films, ship tours, conversations, interactive exhibits, and more.
Visitors of all ages can make ocean discoveries all month from inside and outside our waterfront museum location.
Ocean Discovery Month features our partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which will be docking a research vessel at the Exploratorium’s Pier 17 in August, as well as scientists from UC Davis and UC Santa Cruz who monitor conditions from our location and study the connection between the ocean and Bay through the Exploratorium’s Wired Pier environmental observing program.
August 8–13: Scientific Buoy Display
August 9–12: NOAA Research Vessel Reuben Lasker Docked on Pier 15/17
August 17–September 5: Saildrone 23-Foot Oceanic Research Drone Display
There's always something interesting happening here—check out our ongoing events.
Past Programs
Ship Chat with Exploration Vessel Nautilus Live from the Ocean Floor
Friday, August 31, 2018 • 5:30 p.m.
Join a live chat with explorers on board the E/V Nautilus as they use an ROV to explore an erupting undersea volcano near Hawaii.
Ship Chat with Exploration Vessel Nautilus Live from the Ocean Floor
Thursday, August 30, 2018 • 2:00 p.m.
Join a live chat with explorers on board the E/V Nautilus as they use an ROV to explore an erupting undersea volcano near Hawaii.
Buoy Exploration Day
Wednesday, August 8, 2018 • 10:00–2:00 p.m.
Take a close look at the critters and seaweed that colonize the bottom of the buoy when we pull our NOAA CO2 buoy out of the water for its yearly servicing.
Buoy + Breakfast Member Morning
Wednesday, August 8, 2018, 9:30 a.m.–10:00 a.m.
Discover what's inside—and what creatures live on—a scientific buoy as we raise the one that bobs in the Bay between Piers 15 and 17. Light refreshments will be served.
After Dark: Bounce
Thursday, August 2, 2018 • 6:00–10:00 p.m.
Trampolines, pogo sticks, kids on road trips: bouncing isn’t just about jumping up and down but describes an object’s change in motion after encountering an obstacle. Rebound your curiosity in collisions at After Dark: Bounce.
Lab and Lunch: Rising—Dispatches from the New American Shore
Thursday, August 2, 2018 • Noon–1:00 p.m.
Join Elizabeth Rush, author of Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore, for a discussion about coastal communities undergoing dramatic transformation due to climate change.
Plankton Exhibit Tour
Wednesday, August 1, 2018 • 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
Join Exploratorium biologist Jennifer Frazier for a tour of Exploratorium ocean exhibits that explore what plankton are, where they live, and how they change with the environment.
Live Plankton Discovery Activity
Daily, August 1–31, 2018 • 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
Discover the Bay’s plankton through a powerful microscope at the Bakar Explainer Station twice a day during Ocean Discovery Month.
Ocean Discovery Month
Wednesday, August 1–Monday, September 9, 2018
Celebrate Ocean Discovery Month this August at the Exploratorium, and explore your connection to the ocean through hands-on activities, ship tours, conversations, interactive exhibits, and more.
