El Niño finally arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area this winter. The local hills turned green, and reservoirs and creeks were filled from the abundant rainfall. But the accompanying ocean storm surges off the Pacific Ocean pounded the coast, causing the erosion Read More
Two independent long-term time series show four decades of declines within fish populations in the California Current, with no sign of reversal. The data set from the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries (CalCOFI) and the data set from the power plant cooling water intakes (PPI) were taken from five sites along the California Coastline. Both sets Read More
Back in April 2011, my friend and I were diving off Casino Point on Santa Catalina Island in chilly waters when we looked up and saw four large black fish. They were about four to five feet long, cruising slowly in around 20 feet of water at the edge of the kelp. To my friend Read More
A report entitled Sea-Level Rise: a Slow-Moving Emergency, was released in August 2014 by the Assembly Select Committee on Sea Level Rise and the California Economy. The Select Committee, established in 2013 and chaired by state Assemblyman Richard Gordon, D-Menlo Park, held four hearings throughout the state to examine sea-level rise’s effect on various sectors Read More
In a new five-year project, UCLA researchers will make the first detailed models predicting how climbing temperatures will affect the coastal climate in four eastern boundary upwelling systems, or EBUSes, which are off the coasts California and Oregon, Peru and Chile, southern Africa, and Spain and northern Africa. The project is supported by a $2 Read More
The significance of our ocean’s impact on greenhouse gas begins with the earliest ocean four billion years ago, when all the atmospheric carbon was absorbed and allowed the earth to cool enough for life to begin. In our modern era, as atmospheric carbon dioxide levels go up, the ocean absorbs more carbon dioxide to stay Read More
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, State Coastal Conservancy and the Annenberg Foundation today announced a joint website to provide an initial outline of potential restoration alternatives at Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve on the Los Angeles County coast. The website builds on a prior site, and also features Read More
Along every seashore lies an abundance of marine life that has evolved to thrive in two different environments: underwater at high tide and above water at low tide. This unique zone is expected to be strongly influenced by rising air and sea temperatures. In fact, the distribution of intertidal species along the California coast has Read More
Over the next century, sea level rise (SLR) in the Los Angeles region may increase 5-24 inches by 2050 and up to 66 inches by 2100. A new study by USC assesses the potential impacts of SLR on the City’s most vulnerable communities and infrastructures in case of a 10-year or 100-year flood under not Read More
When this home, and the ones beside it, were originally designed and built, sand buried the entire foundation up to the bottom of the house, and the stairs led right onto the beach. Today, much of the sand is gone, the foundations of the homes are fully exposed and the stairs now lead to an Read More