There is a long history in oceanography of using temperature as a proxy to identify and follow bodies of water. Satellite imagery in the infrared reveals the details of the warm Gulf stream and its eddies against cooler Atlantic water. Satellite imagery also shows the cold, deep, mineral rich water upwelling along the Pacific coast of the United States and South America.

In the 1st section of this poster I present temperature-time profiles of water flooding up and ebbing down past a pier on the edge of North San Francisco Bay. This pier is on the edge of a deep channel that extends from the Golden Gate Bridge into the Sacramento River, a distance of more than 60 km. The temperature peaks have a complex shape, but the fact that salinity mirrors temperature demonstrates that these curves represent the turbulent flow of warmer fresh river water down into the colder ocean and not instrument noise. An attempt is made to deconvolute the spatial temperature gradient of the water from the time dependent tidal flow.

In the 2nd section I show temperature profiles at several locations in Richardson Bay, a small extension of San Francisco Bay. Dimensions are about 1/10 th those in the main bay, and during each tidal cycle water moves from the entrance into shallow wetlands and back. Two of the locations are in wetlands, and the range of temperatures is large and dependent on daily solar input.

Data for the 1st section was downloaded from the Internet. Data for the 2nd was obtained using inexpensive (<$100) equipment designed for non-scientific use (the author declares no conflict of interest in promotion of these devices). These data are just a hint of a comprehensive study of the Bay. However, they suggest that amateurs and secondary school students can make a real contribution to oceanography.