From K-Q-Q-E-D.

On behalf of this flight crew on the Southwest Airlines,

we can first welcome you to Oakland.

When you fly into San Francisco, Oakland, or San Jose, you might just spot them out the window.

Huge colorful ponds hugging the shoreline of the bay.

Some are brown and green, others are bright pink and red.

It's like an insane patchwork quilt.

Seriously, it looks like a paint factory exploded next to Silicon Valley.

I'm Olivia Alan Price, and with me is Lauren Summer, reporter with KQED Science.

Hey Olivia.

Hey.

So this week on Bay Curious, where we answer a new question about the Bay Area each week,

we'll discover what those weird ponds are.

Support for Bay Curious is brought to you by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company,

still family owned, operated, and argued over.

Explore their brews wherever fine beverages are sold and taste how trailblazing runs in the family.

Visit Sierra Nevada.com to find your new favorite beer today.

I met up with our question asker,

Anne Vercooter of Greenbray,

and she knew one thing. In the Bay Area, they're known as the salt ponds. And she's wondered about them for maybe 50 years.

I grew up in the Bay Area near where the salt ponds are on the South Bay

and periodically when you drive are on the South Bay,

...