Vast swathes of California’s beaches could be lost to climate change, a recent newspaper has predicted, with 25-70 per cent of the state’s beaches totally eroded by the end of this century.
The study, published in March, was produced by five scientists from the USGS Pacific Coastal & Marine Science Centre, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of New South Wales, Sydney.
The five looked at San Francisco’s Ocean Beach and analysed satellite imagery of the beach over two decades.
They then took the entire 1,100-mile coastline of California and used their models to foretell how climate change would impact the beaches, using a predicted rise in sea levels of 1.6 feet to 10 feet over the next 80 years.
The authors wrote that by 2100, the model estimates that 25-70 of California’s beaches may become completely eroded due to sea level rise scenarios of 0.5 to 3.00 m, respectively, and that satellite data assimilated modelling system presented here was generally applicable to a medley of coastal settings around the globe owing to the global coverage of satellite imagery.
The authors warned that several well-known beaches were at risk, among them Point Arena and Humboldt Bay in Northern California, Pismo Beach and Morrow Bay in Central California, and Newport Beach and San Clemente in Southern California.
The study, cited by the news website SFGate, is yet to be peer-reviewed.
It follows on from a comparable study in 2017, by the same group of researchers, who discovered then that 31 to 67 per cent of beaches in Southern California were at risk of being destroyed.
The author concludes that the model predictions, although subjected to considerable uncertainty, indicate that significant impacts to the shoreline may occur due to accelerated sea level rise.
The author also said that it’s likely that numerous beaches in California would need significant management efforts, e.g., beach nourishments, sand retention, armouring, dune restorations as well as other engineering and nature-based solutions in order to maintain existing beach widths and the many services provided.
Experts are also extremely concerned about rising sea levels but clash on the predicted rise.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted last year that sea level would rise up to eight inches in California and along the West Coast in the next 25 years.
However, the experts have been saying this for a long time, and it’s always in the next 20 years or so, and they’re always telling us that some catastrophe will happen, whether it is natural or not.
You have to admit though, the climate has altered drastically over the years. I can remember when I was a child, the snow would come up to my knees, now kids barely know what snow is.
These are model predictions and are subject to significant uncertainty – purely conjecture.
Now is, ‘by the end of the century’ time frame, and the word ‘could’ tells a lot about the knowledge of these ‘so-called’ experts.
One thing that can be deduced from this very ‘important research’ is that they have simply no clue and are just playing guessing games to fit this ridiculous climate narrative.
The thing to look for, is financing these studies, you’d have to look at those people who are pouring money into them, and who want a particular outcome, and if you’re a scientist dependent on grant funding, then it’s in their best interest to show ‘findings’ that align with what their funder is paying them to find, because if you’re given a bunch of money and find the ‘wrong’ result, then you don’t expect to get any more money.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 