King tides – the highest tides of the year – will begin to flow toward San Diego’s coast on Thursday morning, and the state is asking the public to help document them.
These high tide events can help scientists see how rising sea levels may affect coastal areas in the coming years.
As part of its King Tides Project, the California Coastal Commission has been publishing photos and videos in an interactive map since 2018. People from all parts of the state have submitted photos of massive waves crashing against cliffs, covering beach parking lots and flooding local roads.
“You might see water coming up through manhole covers, storm drains, things like that,” said Annie Kohut Frankel, who oversees the project at the Coastal Commission. “It’s not always just water coming over the beach. We really want to learn about that. … We’re collecting this data to understand flooding and sea level rise.”
Kohut Frankel said scientists compare those photos and videos to their climate change models.
“What does water that's 1 to 2 feet higher than usual look like,” she said. “Does that match what our projections are for sea level rise of that amount?”
Kohut Frankel said some of the most helpful photos people can submit show the water level in relation to something stationary.
“Whether that’s a seawall or a pier or a building or something that doesn’t move, that helps us understand the height of the water,” she said. Photos of places that commonly flood are also helpful, she added, because “they help us understand that in some places, the high tides may be also pushing up groundwater.”
King tides are a natural phenomenon. They happen when the sun and moon are closest to the Earth. When they align, they have the strongest gravitational pull on the ocean. Scientists keep a close eye on them because sea level rise makes them more disruptive. King Tides, which are typically 1 to 1.5 feet higher than the average high tide, are getting higher and extending further inland than they did in previous years, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In San Diego, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts king tides of more than 7 feet high through Saturday.
The public can expect to see them from various parts of the coast.
King tides can be seen from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Thursday at Famosa Slough and from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. on Friday at the Kendall-Frost Marsh, as well as from Estero de Punta Banda in Mexico. At those locations, the San Diego Bird Alliance will have educational booths and host birdwatching.
