Each morning, Santa Barbara Harbor Patrol personnel record the surface water temperature from their boat dock at the west end of the harbor. The harbor enjoys good tidal circulation and the sample is taken before the sun can exert a warming effect, so these temperatures should be representative of the coastal waters.

Personnel of the Marine Pollution Studies Lab take daily temperature and salinity samples off the rocks near the water intake for the laboratory, and return the salinity samples to Scripps once a month for analysis. This sampling site is considered to be a good representative of the spring-summer upwelling that is typical of the central California coast.

Hopkins Marine Station personnel take daily temperature measurements from a beach on the north side of Point Cabrillo just north of their main laboratory buildings. Exposed to the northwest swell as it sweeps past Point Pinos, this location is representative of coastal conditions on the south side of Monterey Bay.

The Farallon Islands, seven rocky islands comprising the Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge, are the breeding grounds for more than one-quarter of all California seabirds and home to populations of seals and sea lions. The largest seabird colony south of Alaska, this critical habitat provides protection for 12 different species, numbering more than 200,000 individuals. As a small part of their ongoing scientific studies, research personnel stationed on Southeast Farallon take daily temperature and salinity samples and return the salinity samples to Scripps once a month for analysis. Because of their location 26 miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge, where they catch the full force of winter storms and the strong summer northwesters, data collection can be interrupted from time to time. The sampling site at the boat landing on the southeast side of the island is steep and rocky, so measurements are representative of the oceanic waters around the islands.

Humboldt State University operates a marine laboratory on the rocky headland between the ocean and Trinidad Bay. Bay temperatures are taken from the fishing pier on the lee or southeast side of the headland. Ocean temperatures and salinity samples are taken from the beach on the northwest side, and returned to Scripps once a month for analysis. Except during periods of heavy runoff, salinity values from the coast and the bay are so similar that salinity samples are collected from the beach only.