San Francisco’s Exploratorium will host its annual Bay Day on Saturday, August 1, from 11 am to 4 pm!
With regular museum admission, guests can enjoy included access to live marine science demonstrations, citizen science activities, and a rare close-up look at the instruments researchers use to monitor climate change in the San Francisco Bay.
The NOAA research buoy
The focal point of the event will be the annual servicing of a NOAA research buoy that has been anchored between Piers 15 and 17 at the Exploratorium since 2013. The buoy operates continuously, collecting real-time measurements of water temperature, salinity, and CO2 levels in both the Bay and the atmosphere. Scientists use the data to track climate change and sea level rise.
Visitors will be able to watch the buoy being extracted from the water, examine the barnacles, oysters, and other organisms that have colonized its surface over the past year, and help scrub it clean before it goes back in.
Exploratorium scientist Melissa Lunden, Ph.D., will lead a “Meet the Buoy” session explaining the mechanics of the instrument and the importance of long-term environmental monitoring.
More activities at Bay Day
Beyond the buoy servicing, the program includes:
- Creature Feature: Life on the Buoy, led by the Living Systems Lab team, introducing the algae and animals that have lived on the structure over the past year.
- See Live Bay Species, where local marine scientists will display live oysters, seaweed, plankton, and other organisms collected directly from the San Francisco Bay.
- How to Draw Sharks and Rays of the San Francisco Bay, a guided drawing session with Jacquie Villa Rajerison focused on local elasmobranchs and their anatomy and ecology.
- Explore the Waterfront Field Station, an early public look at the Exploratorium’s forthcoming outdoor exhibition on sea level rise — described as the museum’s largest free outdoor exhibit collection on climate change and California’s coastline.
- FathomVerse: Gaming for Community Science, an interactive game in which visitors help researchers analyze real underwater imagery.
Attending Bay Day
🎟️ Tickets: Bay Day is included with standard daytime museum admission to the Exploratorium.
🗓️ Date: Bay Day activities take place from 11 am to 4 pm on Saturday, August 1. The Exploratorium will be open from 10 am to 5 pm.
📍 Location: Pier 15, Embarcadero at Green Street, San Francisco.