As the season’s first king tides arrive this weekend, California’s coastline will be vulnerable to flooding — and it might not look too different from projected sea levels as they rise in the decades to come.
To help understand the effects of these tides and rising sea levels more generally, the California Coastal Commission is asking citizen scientists to take pictures and document flooding this weekend as part of their ongoing King Tides Project.
Why study king tides?
King tides are essential previews of higher sea levels, helping us predict areas that may be prone to flooding now and in the decades to come.
“When we have photos of them, it helps us understand what is vulnerable to flooding today, what’s already vulnerable to flooding during extreme tides and storm events,” said Annie Kohut Frankel, who manages the King Tide Project at the California Coastal Commission. “But it also helps us understand what we will expect to see as sea level rises over the next few decades.”…