Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Waves Grow to 13 Feet Tall in California as Earth Warms, Research Finds
By admin
Published 2 years ago on
August 3, 2023

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

SAN DIEGO — Waves are getting bigger and surf at least 13 feet (about 4 meters) tall is becoming more common off California’s coast as the planet warms, according to innovative new research that tracked the increasing height from historical data gathered over the past 90 years.

Unusual Method of Measuring Wave Height

Oceanographer Peter Bromirski at Scripps Institution of Oceanography used the unusual method of analyzing seismic records dating back to 1931 to measure the change in wave height.

When waves ricochet off the shore, they collide with incoming waves and cause a ripple of energy through the seafloor that can be picked up by seismographs designed to detect earthquakes. The greater the impact, the taller the wave is.

Until now, scientists relied on a network of buoys by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that collect data on wave height along U.S. coasts, but that data along the California coast only went back to 1980.

“Until I stumbled upon this data set, it was almost impossible to make that comparison with any kind of reliability,” Bromirski said.

Analyzing Historic Seismic Reading to Analyze Change Over Time

To go back further, Bromirski gathered a team of undergraduate students to analyze daily seismic readings covering decades of winters. It was a slow, painstaking process that took years and involved digitizing drums of paper records. But he said it was important in learning how things have changed over nearly a century along California’s coast.

They found that average winter wave heights have grown by as much as a foot since 1970, when global warming is believed to have begun accelerating. Swells at least 13 feet tall (about 4 meters) are also happening a lot more often, occurring at least twice as often between 1996 to 2016 than from 1949 to 1969.

Bromirski was also surprised to find extended periods of exceptionally low wave heights prior to about 1970 and none of those periods since.

Flooding, Damage to Coastal Infrastructure, More Frequent Than Past

“Erosion, coastal flooding, damage to coastal infrastructure is, you know, something that we’re seeing more frequently than in the past,” Bromirski said. “And, you know, combined with sea level rise, bigger waves mean that is going to happen more often.”

Changes in waves are showing up in other ways, too.

“There’s about twice as many big wave events since 1970 as there was prior to 1970,” Bromirski said.

Published Studies

The study, published Tuesday in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, adds to the evidence that climate change is causing massive shifts in the world’s oceans. Other studies have shown waves are not only getting taller but also more powerful.

Damage from intense storms and massive surf is already playing out. This winter, California’s severe storms and giant waves collapsed bluffs, damaged piers and flooded parts of the state’s picturesque Highway 1.

Bromirski said that is a harbinger of the future. Scientists say global warming may even be accelerating, ushering in even bigger waves.

As sea levels rise and storms intensify, bigger waves will cause more flooding in coastal communities, erode away beaches, trigger landslides and destabilize remaining bluffs, he said.

These issues are of particular concern along the California coast, where sea cliffs have already started crumbling and brought down homes in recent years. Because of sea level rise, projections at the end of the 21st century indicate even moderate waves might cause damage comparable to that of extreme weather events, according to the study.

Extreme Storms and Violent Waves Increase as Oceans Warm, the Data Shows

Oceanographer Gary Griggs at the University of California Santa Cruz said while a jump of a foot in wave height over more than 50 years is not huge, the findings are consistent with what scientists know is happening to the world’s oceans as they warm: They are becoming increasingly violent due to more extreme storms and wreaking havoc along coasts.

Griggs, who was not involved in the research, said it adds to growing scientific data showing how fast the world is warming and how quickly seas are rising.

“We know hurricanes are more intense and last longer, and now we’ve got, you know, waves increasing in power. So those are all consistent,” he said. “The challenge … is sort of how to really respond to that.”

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

UP NEXT

California Opens Investigation Into State Farm

Military Parade Barrels Through Nation’s Capital With Tanks, Troops and 21-Gun Salute

17 hours ago

Authorities Still Searching for Suspect in Shooting of 2 Minnesota State Lawmakers

17 hours ago

Israel and Iran Bombard Each Other, Trump Says He Can ‘Easily’ End Conflict

JERUSALEM/DUBAI -Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, killing scores and raising fears of a wider con...

1 minute ago

Israelis take shelter at the side of a highway as siren sounds following missile attack from Iran on Israel, in central Israel June 15, 2025. REUTERS/Oren Ben Hakoon
1 minute ago

Israel and Iran Bombard Each Other, Trump Says He Can ‘Easily’ End Conflict

President Donald Trump speaks as he attends a military parade to commemorate the U.S. Army's 250th Birthday, on the day of his 79th birthday, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 14, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
5 minutes ago

Trump Vetoed an Israeli Plan to Kill Iran’s Supreme Leader, US Officials Say

17 hours ago

Israel Says Attacks on Iran Are Nothing Compared With What Is Coming

17 hours ago

Military Parade Barrels Through Nation’s Capital With Tanks, Troops and 21-Gun Salute

17 hours ago

Authorities Still Searching for Suspect in Shooting of 2 Minnesota State Lawmakers

17 hours ago

Caitlin Clark Returns and Leads Fever to Upset Win Over Unbeaten Liberty

17 hours ago

Iran Fires Another Round of Missiles at Israel, and Explosions Are Heard in Tehran

19 hours ago

Stephen Miller’s Former High School Classmate Challenges His Deportation Policies

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend