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There is no debate: sea level rise is happening right now and threatens all of our beaches. 
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California's drought has at least one upside: Record-low rainfall has resulted in cleaner water up and down the coast, a new report says.
PIRatE Lab's curator insight,
May 23, 2014 7:27 AM
Less non-point pollution translates into improved near-shore water quality. Not a particularly surprising result, but important nevertheless.
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Scientists are unraveling the composition of persisting oil residues collected from Gulf of Mexico beaches following the Deepwater Horizon disaster, insisting on further assessment of the toxic impact of these chemical remnants on the marine... Via Gaye Rosier, PIRatE Lab
PIRatE Lab's curator insight,
January 25, 2014 9:41 AM
This is key (alhtough why they sampled such a small number of "cookies" is a wonder). We are very likely seeing chronic ecotoxicity from the DWH spill. But distinguishing the BP-related oil from all the other leaks and the background of sludge along the Louisiana coast is a difficult task.
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To enhance ecosystem conservation and beach management to balance natural resource protection and recreational use."
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Tentative Agenda for 11th Annual Winter Meeting January 14, 2014
9:30, “Welcome,” Karen Martin, Professor, Pepperdine University 10:00, “The City of San Clemente Beach Ecology Policy,” Sharon Heider (Director of Beaches, Parks, and Recreation), Dennis Roger Reed (Beaches and Parks Manager), and Mark Chavez (Inspector Coordinator), City of San Clemente 10:45 “Record Droughts in 2013 – What’s the Forecast for 2014?” Bill Patzert, Oceanographer, JPL and NASA 10:55 BREAK 11:00, "Update on Western Snowy Plovers" by biological consultant Tom Ryan, Los Angeles Audubon Society 11:25, “An Amazing Year for (all sorts of) Whales in Southern California,” Diane Alps & Bernardo Alps, Naturalists & Wildlife Photographers, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium 11:55, “SeaGrant Explore Beach Ecosystems website,” Monique Myers, CA Sea Grant 12:05, Group Photo! 12:15, Lunch (provided), open discussion with your colleagues 1:00, “Discussion of BMPs, continuing education, and desired future directions for the Beach Ecology Coalition” 2:15, Meeting of Board of Directors, Beach Ecology Coalition
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From Longboat Key north to Holmes Beach, the shore has been wrestling with storms and tidal surges, challenging both property owners and vacationers.
At Monday's Tourist Development Council meeting in Holmes Beach, Manatee County Parks and Natural Resource Department Director Charlie Hunsicker delivered an update on the beach renourishment project about to start on Anna Maria Island. If all goes as planned, they will be renourished by May of next year.
The sand comes from 4,000 feet down, deep off of the gulf floor, through pipes that carry it onto the shore. The vessels doing the work can pump the slurry from as far as nine miles out from shore to replace eroded sand.
Hunsicker said the project will cost $16 million; $10 million from the Federal Government and $6 million more from state and local taxes.
PIRatE Lab's curator insight,
December 17, 2013 12:23 PM
Hmmmm....permeable groins, eh? It will be interesting to see how these might work in Florida.
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PIRatE Lab's curator insight,
December 1, 2013 1:06 AM
A quick overview of the central thesis of a forthcoming book on the future health of beaches.
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Summer means more time at the beach, and for those of us who love to spend their time on the sand instead of the water, making things out of sand is a pretty good idea. Some of us can only make mou...
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VCShorebirds works to conserve the birds of Ventura County's public beaches through education and research.
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Solspot.com's Adam Wright has an explanation for why waves have been so small this month.
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Puget Sound has more armor than the Tower of London — 600-plus miles of concrete, rock and timbers enclosing about 26 percent of its total shoreline. And it’s still spreading: According to data collected by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, a little over a mile of concrete and riprap gets laid along the Sound each year, 76 percent of it on residential property. This trend may accelerate as climate change proceeds and sea levels rise, spurring waterfront owners to seek more protection.
Bulkheads and beach berms disrupt shore currents and block natural beach replenishment, which starves intertidal zones of sand, gravel and sea wrack. These zones are essential incubators for forage fish such as sand lance and surf smelt, and feeding grounds for young salmon, and armoring is widely thought to be dreadful for them. “It’s really death by a thousand cuts,” says Randy Carman, who manages DFW’s near-shore section and monitors the spread of bulkheads.
Nevertheless, good, hard local data on armoring’s habitat effects have until now been lacking. In that absence, often contentious debates have flared for years between environmentalists and scientists eager to restore, or at least preserve, natural beaches, and affluent landowners who fear their waterfront villas will wash away.
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LiMPETS (Long-term Monitoring Program and Experiential Training for Students) is an environmental monitoring and education program for students, educators, and volunteer groups. This hands-on program was developed to monitor the ocean and coastal ecosystems of California’s National Marine Sanctuaries to increase awareness and stewardship of these important areas.
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They're the tiny recyclers of the ocean floor -- voracious, pink-plumed worms that devour entire whale skeletons, then scatter their eggs to the current in hopes that offspring will find new bones.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Interesting that wood borers are absent from the deeper Antarctic waters.
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Just in time for the unofficial start of summer, Venice Beach has landed some national bragging rights as one of the best restored beaches in the
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Ninety-three percent of Ventura County’s shoreline consists of sandy beaches. More than a place to sunbathe and surf, these beaches provide critical habitat and a range of functions valued highly by people. One survey of biological communities of Southern California beaches found that species richness, organism abundance, and biomass are all higher here than similar beaches in other regions around the world. Two endangered shore birds, the California Least Tern and the Western Snowy Plover, nest and feed along these
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San Diego County unveils a new beach water quality app Friday.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
San Diego County and the conservation group WILDCOAST announced a new mobile app Friday that lets beachgoers check water quality on the go.
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By: Nir Barnea and Asma Mahdi Attention marine debris cleanup crews, beachcombers, beach visitors, and park recreation staff! Your help is needed to find transponders, released by the Tattori Unive... Via AimForGood, PIRatE Lab
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Keep an eye peeled for these.
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In a remarkable comeback story, oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is ramping up once again. These three companies have staked their claim in Gulf deep-water production; here's why investors stand to win big.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
What seemed impossible just a few years ago is turning into reality. The Gulf of Mexico is once again one of the top oil-producing regions in the United States. Good for big oil and short term profits...bad for our coastal ecosystems.
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Coastal Commission approves massive beach sand replenishment project.
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A recent Friday, 3:58 p.m.: Andres Amador looked over a rock wall at tire tracks running through the canvas that the receding tide had left on the beach below the Cliff House. A pained look came ac...
PIRatE Lab's insight:
Wonderful art that is both respectful of both our coast and the ephemeral and dynamic nature of the intertidal.
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PIRatE Lab's insight:
We'll see how this works.
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PIRatE Lab's curator insight,
November 12, 2013 12:23 PM
Beach nourishment can only help so much. When we sever the coastal dynamics and sediment supply (particullary in the face of charging erosive pressures from increasing storm frequencey) of beaches...you get no (or highly degraded) beaches.
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Adults and children from Florida to Texas, USA, are calling, emailing and going online to report that they have found a little yellow card in the water and on the beach. The locations of these drift cards give scientists important information for ... Via Oceanscience
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Two tiny crustaceans whose burrows in the sand were once familiar sights to beachgoers are on their way to being extirpated from Southern California, according to a new study.
PIRatE Lab's insight:
We have found these guys similarly few and far between in our surveys.
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