San Francisco, CA - What in the World is a Bay Model?

Big day today - we’re going back to the scene of the crime - the dock where I fell in. But, we have some other adventures in mind too. First, we stopped at the local Jeep dealer to see about a replacement for my key, the one that fell in the drink when I did. I sat in the car while Gary went in - soon he returned with an ashen face. ‘Guess what a new key would cost?’ I could tell my his pained expression that it was a lot of money. ‘$400.00’ he told me. ‘$198.00 for the key and $198 for the labor to re-program it.’ Holy Toledo. Hmmm. I immediately thought that we might get a key further away from here, a rather expensive area of California (as if California itself isn’t expensive.)

First we called Des Moines to find out what it would cost where we actually bought the Jeep. $240. Ah, much better but they needed to have the car there to check it. Nope, not gonna happen. Then we looked down the road to where we were headed and called Newport, OR. $250. Well, we can do that. We have another regular key for emergencies. Problem with that one is that since it is not programmed, when we open the car with it, the alarm sounds. But, that’s easy to stop - just stick the key in the starter. So, that’s our plan: get the key in Newport.

Our next stop was at the Bay Model. Hmmm How to describe this amazing structure. How’s this from the Bay Model brochure: ’It is a three-dimensional representation of San Francisco Bay and the Delta capable of simulating tides, currents and river inflows?’ OR, how’s this from Wikipedia: ‘The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Bay Model is a working hydraulic scale model of the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta System.’ Good but I don’t think that they really describe what it is you have to see it for yourself and that is what we are doing.

But, first, a map of the territory the Bay Model covers - all of the land which is the part of the San Francisco Bay system. There’s the Pacific Ocean off to the left, San Francisco Bay off to the left of San Francisco, San Pedro Bay NE of where we are (the grey dot) and several other bays and canals and rivers in the upper right of the map. Pretty big and pretty important to the economic and environmental health of the area. One bad move, like an oil spill or a dam near Antioch or a fish kill or a huge new shipping channel would cause havoc all over.

The Bay Model includes all of the water within this map. Covering 2.5 times the size of a football field or 1.5 acres, it is an exact replica in height and width of the bay. It has correct depths, correct currents and - it even has tides, though the tides take only 14 minutes to go in and out rather than 24 hours. I couldn’t get a picture of the whole thing, it is too big and the walkways over it for viewing get in the way. But, here’s a picture of the most recognizable section - the Golden Gate Bridge section. Here you can see the bridge, labels on other land forms like Angel Island in front, the walkways in the model which are really land forms but, in the model, enable people to walk around it and observe. (These people are standing in what really is Sausalito, the first town north of the GG Bridge. In fact, the Bay Model is in Sausalito and that is where we are. Since the modelers were really interested only in the bay, they did not fill in the land forms.) Note that the lighter the color, the shallower the water in that spot. Or, the lower in elevation of the land. Also note the mural painted on the back wall.

Why in the world would someone build something like this? Well, back in the 1950’s a guy wanted to dam up the bay and create two fresh water lakes between the Sierras and San Francisco. To test whether this would be workable and/or environmentally sound, the US Army Corps of Engineers built this this model. The tests scuttled the dams by proving that the lakes would evaporate faster than they would fill. For the next 40 years, scientists and engineers used the Model to learn what would happen if man or nature made other changes to the physical environment of the San Francisco Bay estuary. Now, of course, computer simulation is used and the purpose of the Model has changed from modeling to education.

Here’s another picture showing the possibilities. We did not see this and I got the picture from Bay Area Travel Writers. One of the tests that the model would demonstrate is the release of something like oil from a tanker or chemicals from a bayside factory and how they would flow through the SF Bay. Where would these chemicals or oil go? How fast would they flow? What areas would be affected?

Disneyland it ain’t but fascinating. So that’s the description. Here’s our visit. The first thing we saw as we entered the building was an exhibit showing the whole watershed flowing into the SF Bay, from the Sierra Nevada Mts. to the ocean off San Francisco. And, we got to ‘melt’ the snow of the Sierras and watch it flow down the mountains, into the valley and out to sea. I’ve taken 3 pictures showing where it goes. First the snow in the mountains,

next the snow melt

then the snowmelt fills the two major river systems in the area,

finally the fresh water flowing into the bay. This is a huge watershed all flowing under the Golden Gate Bridge and out to the Pacific. No wonder they wanted to study it as a whole since all the parts are inter-related. And, it’s very obvious, no snow in the Sierras, no water in the valleys to grow the crops we all eat.

Pretty cool, huh? We then walked through a section showing how the interaction between the salt water and the fresh water rejuvenate and replenish the bay. Finally we learned about the invasive species in the Bay and how they have spread and are threatening the bay. We also saw a movie showing the history of the Model and then we walked out on a walkway over the Bay Model which was supposed to be from 11,000’ above it all. Kind of like being in a Google Map program. Here you get an expansive view of the whole model. I watched one section to see the tides go in and out. Cool. To do that you have to watch one section for a few minutes to see the flow. I focused on the end of a dock to see it flow.

We also walked around the whole model. Here’s a section showing some of the rivers and canals in the NW corner of the model. But, again, you can see how large this thing is.


And, here you can see how you can walk around it and study it.

Quite frankly, we were somewhat surprised to see lots of other people circling it. We hadn’t expected to see so many other people here. There was a mother with her young son and baby. There was a family with two kids. There were other couples and then there were the school groups trying to get in their last field trip. We see a lot of school groups in our travels and I’m always amazed at how some teachers prep their kids and how others are just trying to get in a field trip. This group was just trying to get in a field trip. They were not taking notes, the teacher was not leading them through and explaining each facet. They were just playing on their own as they raced through.

I’m thinking it’s time for lunch and there are several picnic tables out side right on the boardwalk of the bay. Sunny, relaxing and by the water.