Monarch butterfly. Photo: Alan Vernon.

Beautiful black and orange monarchs spend their summers dispersed across North America. At the end of the summer, they embark on a journey of over 2000 miles from their summer homes to their winter havens. Monarchs that live west of the Rockies come to the Monterey Pine and Eucalyptus groves along the California coast, and monarchs east of the Rockies overwinter in forests in the mountains west of Mexico City. These individuals are long-lived, with a lifespan of about 7 months. They fly south and then hunker down, hanging from trees in clusters and basically sleeping. With spring's longer days, the butterflies awaken and fly back north. However, the return trip is not made by the same butterflies that flew south in the fall; instead, the trip is made in stages by their children and grandchildren. Their great (or great-great) grandchildren head south again at the close of summer, never having made that trip before.

Monarchs make this long journey by using the sun as a compass. But the position of the sun changes each day, so the monarchs use a circadian (24-hour) clock to compensate for the daily change in the sun’s position. Scientists used to think monarchs’ circadian compass was in their brain—now we know that the compass is in their antennae.

You can see the overwintering monarchs yourself: The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History offers daily tours of the Monarch Grove Sanctuary, just a few miles from Monterey. The museum hosts a special event, Monarch Magic Science Saturday, on November 27. It includes a lecture series about monarchs, butterfly arts and crafts, and a plant sale—you can purchase nectar plants, which provide food for adult monarch butterflies, and milkweed plants, which provide food for the monarch caterpillars. Put these plants in your garden, and maybe you can convince some migrating monarchs to take a detour through your backyard.

Monarch butterflies aren’t the only animals that migrate through the Bay Area: check out The Great Migration, a QUEST TV story about birds traveling along the Pacific Flyway.

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Producer Chris Bauer filming over the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary in NOAA's Twin Sea Otter plane.

Much of the ocean waters off the coast of California, from Bodega Head to Cambria, have been set aside as national marine sanctuaries. The primary objective of the sanctuaries is to protect our delicate ocean resources while allowing people to use the areas in a sustainable way. While most recreation, commercial fishing, and shipping are still allowed within sanctuary waters, some activities are now strictly regulated or prohibited.

But how do you manage such an enormous area? And how do you keep tabs on what is going on out there? QUEST producers Lauren Sommer, Jenny Oh and I hitched a ride to find out.

On the windswept tarmac of the Sonoma County Airport, a team from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration takes to the skies to patrol large portions of the Cordell Bank, Gulf of the Farallones and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuaries.

The mission of our Twin Otter flight crew, pilots Bradley Fritzler and Jason Mansour from NOAA Corps, along with sanctuary observers Sage Tezak and Michael Carver, is to conduct abundance surveys of users in the sanctuaries, counting boats and recording what they are doing and where.

We start out crossing Bodega Bay, flying multiple transects, back and forth, across the rolling seas of Cordell Bank. The engine noise is deafening in the unpressurized cabin. We scan the whitecaps from a mere 1000 feet, going only about 90 knots. The rugged aircraft bucks in the turbulent wind coming off the water. Flying this low and slow would give some pilots the jitters but for the Twin Otter flight crew it’s just a walk in the park. As we reach the Farallon Islands, I pop the back window to get a better camera angle of the “Devil’s Teeth,” and in the process pray our camera doesn’t get sucked out into the abyss. From the Farallones we bank south and head to Ana Nuevo Island. From there we’ll circle back up the coast, past Half Moon Bay and San Francisco, over Pt Reyes National Seashore and return to Sonoma County. Total flight time: 3 hours. In addition to surveying boat use in the sanctuaries, the observers and flight crew will document any other sightings, such as whales and keep a look out for maritime violations.

California has recently established new marine protected areas along the coast. These MPAs will have strict restrictions and some will essentially be closed off to all major use, including fishing. While the State is in charge of enforcing the new regulations, coordination between government agencies may provide additional help with an eye in the sky.

As much as the folks at NOAA might chafe at this description, it’s easy to think of these Twin Otter Survey Flights over the marine sanctuaries as a kind of “cop on the beat.” They’re not out there actively tracking down bad guys as much as they are a presence, keeping an eye on things and making sure everybody is on the up and up. And in that role, they don’t need to be flying everyday combing the ocean, monitoring everyone and every thing, every minute of every day. They may only survey the sanctuaries once every couple weeks. But knowing that today might be the day they are flying over, may help keep users of the marine sanctuaries in line. “Nothing to see here, move along.”

We’ve crossed these waters many times before for QUEST, but always traveling out into the deep blue on small, sea-sick inducing boats. I can tell you for certain, flying over the rough seas and into the wild blue, is a lot more pleasant and efficient. And seeing the Farallones from the birds eye view was clearly inspiring.

Watch the Marine Sanctuary Patrol Flight television story online.

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But even though it's in our own backyard, this place remains mostly unknown… probably due to its chilly temperatures. Let's face it, most of us are not donning our masks and snorkels and swimming in the hypothermic Pacific Ocean off our coast.

Lucky for us, some intrepid scientists and students are diving into this amazing place. Their job is to monitor how the ecosystems are responding to the new restrictions and protections taking place in the Marine Protected Areas. They gave us an amazing opportunity to see the natural world beneath the surface. And the world they shared with QUEST is truly inspiring. Playful harbor seals tease the divers while they weave through the gently swaying kelp forests. Fish dart through the rays of sunshine that cascades down to where starfish slowly go about their day. Through the eyes of these scientists, we witness the undersea life in bloom. They clearly have one of the best offices to go to work to each day.

Watch the Underwater Wilderness: Creating Marine Protected Areas television story report online.

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The new FOCE experimental chamber being developed by MBARI scientists.

The scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) are already well-known for uncovering some of the most extreme marine animals in the deep sea, like the incredible vampire squid. But recently, they're using their unique blend of biology and engineering to study one of the least-discussed impacts of climate change: ocean acidification.

When we hear about climate change, we tend of think of the atmosphere – and for good reason. But as MBARI scientists describe, the oceans are a key part of the process. The ocean acts like a giant sponge, absorbing carbon dioxide emissions from the air. And as we add more and more CO2 to air by burning fossil fuels, the ocean is absorbing it. On one level, it's done us a big favor. Scientists say that we would be experiencing much more extreme climate change were it not for the ocean's ability to remove the heat-trapping gas.

However, the carbon dioxide that the ocean absorbs is making the water more acidic. This isn't the first time that the oceans have become more acidic. But as is the case with many impacts of climate change, it's the rate at which acidification is happening that worries scientists the most.

As you can probably guess, the ocean is an incredibly complex system. So ocean acidification poses an interesting question to scientists: what will the impacts be on marine species and ecosystems? What they know already is that there will be winners and losers in more acidic waters. Some creatures may do fine, while others won't be able to adapt in time. Either way, food webs may feel the effects – including webs involving species that humans depend on , like salmon.

Another major concern has to do with marine animals with certain kinds of shells – known as "calcifiers." Corals, clams and others all use carbonate in the water to build their shells out of calcium carbonate. But ocean acidification reduces the amount of carbonate in the water, making it more difficult for them to make shells. That could be devastating for coral reefs, who are already facing a number of stresses.

Even if you're an animal without a shell, ocean acidification could make things difficult. Scientists are studying how much stress this could put on animals that can't regulate their internal pH, or how it could affect the larvae or reproduction of certain species. MBARI scientists are hoping that the flume they are developing to conduct FOCE experiments will help researchers answer some of these questions.

Check out the whole story – watch the "Acidic Seas" audio slide show online.

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If you haven't read it already, see my Producer's Notes blog post for this story for the real scoop on squid.


View the web-exclusive premiere of "The Fierce Humboldt Squid," our first Season 2 QUEST TV story. Season 2 begins on broadcast TV next Tuesday, April 1 at 7:30pm on KQED, Channel 9 in Northern California.


See additional photos of these fearsome leviathans of the deep, including close-up tentacles, beaks and an actual squid necropsy.

Chris Bauer is a Segment Producer for television on QUEST, and is the producer for this story.

Quest Educational Resources

 Print Guide - Elkhorn Slough

 Elkhorn Slough KML file

 Tips to get the kids in your life out into nature

 Designing an Exploration on Google Maps

Additional Links

• Elkhorn Slough Safari Tours
• elkhornslough.org
• The Marine Mammal Center
• Defenders of Wildlife
• MBARI: Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
• MBARI: LOBO Project