At the end of the nearly 1,100 foot long Scripps Pier in La Jolla, there is a tiny room with a lot of history. Every day, scientists lower a small container through a hole in that room down into the ocean for a sample. They’re looking for two simple measurements.

“We’re hand collecting a sample from the ocean, and we are measuring that for temperature and salinity,” said Melissa Carter with Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

What makes this simple task notable is that it has been happening at this same location every day since 1916, and the scientists today are using the same technique as a century ago. The data collected is the longest continuous record of such measurements in the Pacific Ocean, which means it’s one of the best places to track long-term changes happening in the ocean.

“It’s a gold mine, if you would, for such a basic oceanographic data set,” Carter said. “Because we’re doing it the same way they have in the past, it allows us to understand those trends over time.”

What they’re seeing are long-term changes in the temperature and chemistry of the ocean. A graph of the 108 years of data shows a noticeable increase in temperatures starting around the 1980s, and nearly all of the warmest water years have occurred over just the past decade.

“So, we’ve seen that the ocean is warming, and it’s warming at almost 3 degrees Fahrenheit over 100 years,” said Carter.

There are a number of reasons a few degrees of warming is significant. For one, when the ocean warms, it expands. That raises the sea levels, pushing water higher up shorelines, which can lead to erosion.

Second, warmer oceans provide more energy for tropical storms helping those storms grow stronger — and more quickly. Hurricane Milton arrived during record warm temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico and intensified at one of the fastest rates in recorded history. And it came on the heals of Hurricane Helene, now one of the deadliest storms in U.S. history.

Third, scientists say warming oceans could lead to more El Niño winters, which can change weather patterns around the globe. This past winter’s El Niño brought record rain to parts of California, including the historic Jan. 22 storm that dropped nearly 3 inches of rain on San Diego in three hours. That’s about a quarter of what the city normally gets in an entire year.

“We used to say El Niños occurred every five to seven years. More recently, that’s been occurring every three to five years. So, there is a change that’s happening,” Carter said.

And those simple daily measurements can help put the pieces of the puzzle together.

“In El Niño years, we may see more salty water coming in,” Carter says. “So, knowing the temperature, the salinity and the nutrients can really help put that signal together.”

Scripps Pier is one of 10 locations along the California coast where these daily measurements are being done. It’s called the shore station project. And while some stations have been measured for more than a century and others for just a few decades, they all show similar trends towards warmer water.

“It takes not just this station but many others and larger data sets to really put together the full picture of what’s happening along our coast,” Carter said.

As a side note, Scripps Institution of Oceanography recently installed a live underwater camera to the pier in the same area where the daily measurements are taken. You can find it here.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday the appointment of four new judges to fill vacancies on the San Diego Superior Court bench.

Newsom appointed attorneys Jami L. Ferrara and Rachel L. Jensen, Intertribal Court Chief Judge Devon L. Lomayesva and San Diego court Commissioner Catherine A. Richardson to fill empty slots left by retiring judges, the governor’s office announced Friday.

The swearing-in dates for three judges have not yet been determined but are planned to occur in the coming weeks, court officials said. Ferrara’s date is set for Oct. 30.

Ferrara has been a sole practitioner since 2001. After graduating from George Mason University Law School, she went on to become a trial attorney at Federal Defenders of San Diego Inc. from 1997 to 2000.

She is filling the vacancy of Judge John S. Meyer.

Jensen earned her juris doctor from Georgetown University Law Center in 2000. She then became an associate at Morrison & Foerster LLP for a year before moving on to being a law clerk for Judge Warren J. Ferguson in the U.S. 9th Court of Appeals from 2001 to 2002.

Jensen left the appeals court in 2002 to receive a clerkship in the office of the United Nations Prosecutor’s International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 2002 and again for the criminal tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in 2003.

In 2003, she became an associate at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP in San Diego. She was named partner in 2008.

Jensen is replacing Judge David Rubin.

Lomayesva comes to the bench after serving as the chief judge at the Intertribal Court of Southern California while also working as a private practitioner. She was a pro tem judge at the intertribal court from 2015 to 2016 and a tribal attorney for the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians from 2013 to 2014.

Before becoming a judge, Lomayesva graduated from California Western Law School and went on to work as a staff attorney at the California Indian Lands Office from 2002 to 2003, eventually becoming directing attorney.

She was executive director at California Indian Legal Services from 2007 to 2012 and in-house counsel for the Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel from 2004 to 2007. She fills the vacancy left by Judge Harry Powazek.

Richardson graduated from the University of San Diego School of Law and became a San Diego deputy city attorney from 1990 to 1997. She then became an associate at Thorsnes Bartolotta McGuire in 1998 and was partner at the firm between 1997 to 2005.

After four years of being a sole practitioner, a two-year stint back in the city attorney’s office, and another year back in private practice, she served as a senior chief deputy at the city attorney’s office from 2014 to 2024. She has been a commissioner at the San Diego Superior Court since earlier this year.

Richardson is replacing Judge Carlos O. Amour.

All four judges are registered Democrats. Annual compensation for judges in California is $238,479.

That one will sting all offseason. With the exception of two pitches Yu Darvish was masterful. But for the second straight game the Padres’ offense never showed up. The Dodgers ended one of the best seasons San Diego has ever had, with a Game 5 shutout. What went wrong the last couple games? Should Shildt have pulled Darvish after six? Would it have even mattered? And how do we process a painful end to a terrific season?

LISTEN: With NBC 7 San Diego’s Darnay Tripp and Derek Togerson behind the mic, On Friar will cover all things San Diego Padres. Interviews, analysis, behind-the-scenes…the ups, downs, and everything in between. Tap here to find On Friar wherever you listen to podcasts.