Coastal group urges residents to take photos at upcoming high tides
Samantha Troisi
Daily Breeze
12/22/2011
Some of the highest winter tides will take place along the coast today and Saturday morning, displaying how a rise in sea level and climate changes could impact the beach communities.
Though weather reports show clear skies, the "king tides" are a natural phenomenon that occur when the sun and the moon align, causing an increased gravitational pull on the ocean.
Liz Crosson, executive director of the Santa Monica Baykeeper, said the tides are the perfect opportunity to see what could potentially happen due to sea level rise in the future.
"Sea level rise is a huge threat to industrial areas like the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports where development is all the way up to the coastal edge," Crosson said. "Those areas are vulnerable to flooding along with power plants, waste and water treatment plants on the coast, and of course Santa Monica Bay homes are under threat due to sea level rise."
The California Coastkeeper Alliance is urging residents to visit their local beaches and shorelines to photograph evidence of high water levels where flooding and other disasters may occur, and to upload them to their Flikr accounts.
