Written by Bryana Quintana

About 70% of earth’s surface is ocean, yet only 5% of the world’s oceans have been explored. One matter overlooked by the general public and scientific circles alike is how shifting faults and landslides thousands of feet under the water can lead to earthquakes and tsunamis on land.

This is what San Diego State University associate professor Jillian Maloney and her team of researchers spent 12 days at sea investigating. 

“These are hazards to people living in Southern California and making sure we’re prepared for these kinds of disasters saves lives and protects infrastructure,” Maloney said. 

In Southern California, earthquakes are the primary cause of most large underwater landslides. Tsunamis can be triggered by earthquakes or sizable landslides which move huge volumes of sediment from higher to lower elevations, displacing large amounts of water. 

Local faults like the San Andreas are well-studied and can be more easily monitored because they are on land. But faults far off the coast and well below the water are much more difficult to study and even detect. 

That’s where the Research Vessel (R/V) Sally Ride came in. The vessel, managed by Scripps Institution of Oceanography, is equipped with specialized scientific instruments and used exclusively for research. 

With funding from the UC Ship Funds Program and a mission to map the seafloor to better predict and protect coastal communities from natural disasters, Maloney’s crew set out for the waters around San Clemente Island. About 100 miles off the San Diego coast, they saw nothing but blue sky, ocean and the occasional small island for nearly two weeks.

The team used the boat’s sonar technology to map the region’s complex topography, generating images showing the faults, tectonic segments and landslides hidden beneath the water.

“We identified faults that appear to be recently active, and that is an indication that they do pose a hazard,” Maloney said. “We identified new faults that could have earthquakes that we didn’t know about before and we did identify repeated landslide deposits, an indication that tsunamis are another hazard we should be considering.”

Maloney’s team also conducted sediment coring — quickly dropping a 10-foot tube into the water to extract a section of sediment that reflects thousands of years of seafloor history. Examining the cores for changes in sediment reveals when landslides, earthquakes and other natural events occurred. This informs on future risks.

“Besides new fault segments and new submarine landslides, we found that there may be smaller landslides that we are not able to see on a sediment core,” said the project’s chief scientist, postdoctoral researcher Andrea Fabbrizzi. “That could be very important because having more ‘invisible’ landslides can change the seismic and tsunami hazard for coastal California.”

“Geological features that we don’t see are out there and must be investigated more to have a better picture of the hazard those features represent for global coastal regions,” he added.

Maloney emphasized that offshore faults and landslides must also be included in hazard assessments, just as cities account for seismic activity on land when developing building codes and emergency plans. Recognizing these threats is key for such large metropolitan areas — whose critical infrastructure includes communications cables running along the global seafloor which transfer more than 95% of the world’s data. 

“Earthquakes and tsunamis, we know from experience, are hazardous to life and property. A landslide that breaks a communication cable could be a big deal for people living here, or anything that’s on the seafloor,” Maloney said. “So we hope this work can get us closer to understanding the possibility of those affecting us so that we can be better prepared.”

San Diego’s got no culture. San Diego is a tourist town. San Diego is a nice place to retire.

Meanwhile cranking away under those well-worn clichés, the city’s creative edge is its best-kept secret. San Diego Magazine and Sony Electronics have partnered to tell the stories of the people building that culture from the ground up. 

Episode 2: Iydeen Younis, Photographer

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“English is my third language, so I’m not always comfortable expressing myself in words. Photography lets me communicate with everyone.”

Photography as a language, a universal translation. Iydeen Younis knows this well. Her family was relocated to San Diego when she was five years old after their village was destroyed. As a young kid who didn’t speak the language, the camera was how she spoke. She used it to document her family’s new life.

Iydeen’s parents wanted her to become a doctor, a lawyer, something big and stable and safe with some important-looking letters after it. But she felt the need to tell people’s stories, capture rare moments, document good work being done. Now she shoots in kitchens across the city, like @cicciaosteriasd, helping the people of the food and drink culture translate what they’ve created. 

This is her story. Stay tuned for more. Shot On Sony FX6 and a7S III cameras at Ciccia Osteria in Barrio Logan.

To learn more about Sony’s Alpha 7 III full-frame hybrid camera, click here. #Shot On Sony #SonyCommunity

San Diego’s got no culture. San Diego is a tourist town. San Diego is a nice place to retire.

Meanwhile, cranking away under those well-worn clichés, the city’s creative edge is its best-kept secret. San Diego Magazine and Sony Electronics have partnered to tell the stories of the people building that culture from the ground up. 

First up: Mike Lynch, founder of San Diego’s Imperfects

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“San Diego is a cultural sleeping giant.”

Mike Lynch made a name for himself by finding the crook in the straight line. Born and raised in San Diego, he skated the beach town alleys, surfed his brains out. He rode the same boards we all did. But when you stare at something long enough, you see other potentials. So he set up in garages, strapped on the mask, and remixed the classic shape. His funky, asymmetrical boards looked like mistakes, and rode like a dream.

He called ‘em Imperfects.

Mike’s imperfections grew beyond the board. He tweaked the surf and skate wear (shirts, jackets, pants, you name it). He just opened a showroom in one of the greatest, grittiest beach towns in the country: OB. He shapes and sketches in the back, hangs with new friends up front. It’s a creative space for local culture, created by a local.

This is his story. Shot on Sony FX6 and Alpha 7S III in Ocean Beach.  

To learn more about Sony’s WH-1000XM5 Wireless Industry Leading Noise Canceling Headphones, click here.

#SonyCommunity #ShotOnSony

What’s on your 2025 summer bucket list? A fun staycation? A trip across state lines? Trying your hand at a new sport? Whatever you’re dreaming of checking off when the weather heats up, there are spots to do it in San Diego and beyond.

From rooftop cocktails at San Diego’s Margaritaville Hotel in Gaslamp to beachside stays at La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club and outdoor adventures in Missoula, Montana, consider this your guide to all the things to see, eat, sip, and explore this summer.

Venture Out: Destination Missoula

For those itching to travel, Missoula, Montana is calling. In this peaceful destination that’s close to nature, you can spend your morning hiking, biking, walking, fishing, or river rafting before hitting museums and boutiques in the afternoon and grabbing a bite from a food truck or chowing down at a café that’s been around for nearly a century. Or dive into the city’s cultural scene with some live music—Zootown Music Festival, concerts at Kettlehouse Amphitheater, and summer stadium shows are still being announced. And like any ideal getaway, accommodation options are plentiful. From wooded cabins to hotels in the heart of town to campsites, all ages, group sizes, and abilities are welcome. 

Stay Coastal: La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club

The oceanfront La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club is set to unveil its new pool experience just in time for the warmer months—and while the club is members-only, everyone who reserves a stay will be a VIP for the day (or weekend), with access to all of the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club’s summer-ready offerings: tennis lessons on 13 championship tennis courts, five pickleball courts, a nine-hole golf course, four seaside restaurants, and the longest stretch of private beach in all of SoCal, with complimentary shoreline activities like paddle ball and beach bocce to keep you having fun in the sun all day long.

City Escape: Margaritaville Hotel San Diego Gaslamp Quarter

Perched in the heart of San Diego’s Gaslamp neighborhood, Margaritaville Hotel San Diego is a tropical escape with access to all the exciting hustle and bustle of the city. Whether you want to sip a pre-Padres game drink on a sunny rooftop, relax by a pool for an afternoon, or grab a bite to eat before exploring downtown, Margaritaville Hotel San Diego has you covered. And if you really want to get in the summer spirit, the hotel has an accommodation package for any group, from full suites to single bedrooms, so you can book a staycation and leave more refreshed than ever.

How often do you feel like your home is clean—and we mean really clean, as in pristine, post pictures about it on social media and invite all of your friends, family, and in-laws over, clean? For most Americans, the answer is just 11 days each year. And that makes sense if you’re relying on regular old mops, vacuums, and dusters to keep your home tidy. Because who has time to use that stuff when life can get so busy—and when there’s so much else you’d rather be doing?

Enter, Dreame, the smart home appliance company offering up innovative products that do the cleaning for you, meaning it’s something longstanding neat freaks and people who want to look like neat freaks without actually working that hard can get behind.

Dreame is opening its flagship store in San Diego at Westfield UTC on April 26. The store is just the second Dreame location in Southern California. It comes less than a year after the success that followed the opening of Dreame’s first U.S. location in Los Angeles, and it comes as people across North America are lining up to bring Dreame’s innovative, intelligent cleaning products into their everyday lives. 

From robotic vacuums with smart mapping to versatile wet-dry cleaning systems, Dreame helps you clean smarter, making it easy to give yourself an Instagram-ready home 365 days a year and still end up with more time to do the things you love. 

The elevated Westfield UTC store will let San Diegans explore Dreame’s full collection of smart home cleaning solutions in person. With live, in-store product demonstrations, visitors can see and test out the products themselves before buying, so you don’t need to rely on anonymous online reviews. (…Plus, you can be sure you’ll know how to use the products once you get home.) In the store’s sleek but hands-on atmosphere, you’ll see how Dreame’s products work together to modernize cleaning for the modern home. Best of all, the brick-and-mortar location will also give San Diegans exclusive access to product pricing and details available only in-store. 

Dreame’s top products include the market-leading X50 Ultra Robot Vacuum, the ultimate smart vacuum with advanced navigation and deep-cleaning power, the H12 Pro FlexReach, a versatile cleaner that combines mopping and vacuuming in one sleek device and works on all floor types. And if you’re after cordless convenience with serious suction, look no further than the Z20 Station Cordless Stick Vacuum. It offers powerful performance, a hands-free dustbin, and a sleek docking station to keep things tidy. There’s also the Pocket Hair Dryer—because your floors aren’t the only things that need a product upgrade— which isn’t just small and easy to travel with, but it actually works. But truly, that’s just the start of Dreame’s all-star cleaning line up.