Current:Home > NewsSurf's up! Wave heights increase on California's coasts as climate warms -Core Financial Strategies
Surf's up! Wave heights increase on California's coasts as climate warms
View
Date:2025-04-17 16:31:06
Earlier this year, California was pummeled by what local surfer's described as the best swell in decades: massive waves that damaged piers, crumbled sea cliffs and flooded coastlines. A new study finds that wave heights are getting bigger along the California coast as global temperatures have warmed.
The study, published Tuesday in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, looked at nearly a century's worth of data, and found that the average height of winter waves have grown by about a foot since 1969. The number of storm events that produced waves greater than 13 feet in height has also increased, the study found.
In that same time, the burning of fossil fuels has contributed to an increase in average global temperatures by more than 1 degree Fahrenheit.
"This is just another indication that overall average wave heights have increased significantly since 1970 — since the advent of the upward trend in global warming," said Peter Bromirski, researcher emeritus at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the study's author.
Global climate-warming carbon dioxide has increased by about 90% since 1970, federal data show.
While bigger waves may be a boon to surfers, they can also be damaging to California's already climate-vulnerable coast.
Warmer ocean temperatures and inflows of freshwater from the world's melting ice caps have caused sea levels to rise roughly 8 inches along California's 1,200 mile coastline in the last century, according to the California Coastal Commission. Without rapid cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, they could rise by feet in the coming decades.
By the turn of this century, federal estimates warn nearly three-quarters of California's picturesque beaches may be completely eroded by rising seas. A report by California's nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office found that between $8 and $10 billion worth of existing property is likely to be underwater within the next few decades, with an additional $6 to $10 billion worth of property at risk during high tides.
"Higher waves with higher sea levels allows more wave energy to reach vulnerable sea cliffs and also enhances coastal flooding as well as damage to coastal infrastructure," said Bromirski.
The new study adds to a growing body of research that suggests storm activity in the Northern Pacific Ocean — the main source of California's winter swells — has increased as human activities have caused the world's temperature to warm. A 2019 study by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, found that the energy in ocean waves have increased over most of the last century because of climate change.
Another study, published by a team of international researchers in 2021, found that climate change is causing wave power — the energy transferred from winds to waves — to increase globally, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere.
"The areas where we see the most warming in the global oceans is where we tend to see the most significant increases in wave power," said Tom Mortlock, one of the study's authors and an Australian-based senior analyst at the insurer Aon. "The reason for this is that as oceans warm, they intensify the circulation of winds over the ocean, and stronger winds drive higher waves."
Bromirski used seismic records dating back to 1931 to get a sense of how much wave heights had changed off California's coasts during the winter months. When waves ricochet off of the coast, they send energy back towards the sea. When that energy hits incoming waves, it pushes energy downward, creating a seismic signal that can be detected.
Bromirski, who got a Ph.D. in seismology in 1993, knew that those wave to wave interactions caused seismic signals that could be detected underwater and on land, "but nobody had tried to invert the seismic signals for wave height," he said.
Interpreting the seismic data was crucial to understanding how wave heights had changed over most of the last century, Bromirski said. Buoys that measure wave height along the West Coast had only been collecting data since 1980, after the rapid intensification of greenhouse gas emissions had already begun.
By using seismic data, Bromirski could look for patterns in a longer window of time. Two notable periods stood out. From 1939 to 1947 and 1957 to 1965 there were extended periods of "exceptionally low winter wave activity," Bromirski said. "There's been nothing like that since 1970."
veryGood! (65)
Related
- SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
- Texas university leaders say hundreds of positions, programs cut to comply with DEI ban
- Jason Kelce Shares Details of Full Circle New TV Job
- Lions make Jared Goff NFL's second highest-paid player with massive extension, per reports
- Israel lets Palestinians go back to northern Gaza for first time in over a year as cease
- Defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs will host Bengals in Week 2
- North Carolina bill to curb mask-wearing in protests could make it illegal for medical reasons too
- Air Force pilot-instructor dies after seat of training plane ejects at Texas base
- What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
- North Carolina bill to curb mask-wearing in protests could make it illegal for medical reasons too
Ranking
- Where will Elmo go? HBO moves away from 'Sesame Street'
- Selena Gomez Unveils New Photos of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place Sequel TV Show
- Seriously, don't drink the raw milk: Social media doubles down despite bird flu outbreak
- 'Jeopardy!' spinoff is in the works: 'Pop Culture Jeopardy!' will stream worldwide on Amazon Prime
- Selena Gomez's "Weird Uncles" Steve Martin and Martin Short React to Her Engagement
- Alice Munro, Nobel Prize winning author and master of the short story, dies at 92
- Zayn Malik Reveals His Relationship Status After Gigi Hadid Breakup—And Getting Kicked Off Tinder
- Mercedes-Benz faces crucial test as Alabama workers vote on whether to unionize
Recommendation
Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas
What to watch in Tuesday’s Maryland US Senate primaries
Reports: Wisconsin-Green Bay to name Fox Sports radio host Doug Gottlieb as basketball coach
Appeals court upholds ruling requiring Georgia county to pay for a transgender deputy’s surgery
Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
At least 8 people killed in Florida bus crash; dozens injured
Ryan Reynolds Reveals Sweet Family Milestone With Blake Lively and Their Kids
Q&A: Is Pittsburgh Becoming ‘the Plastic City’?