70% of California beaches could reportedly vanish by the century’s end

The level of damage incurred by a 3ft sea level rise would see Inland communities in places like San Diego lose a major portion of their picnic areas, lifeguard towers, and coastal access sites. For those closer to the action, the worst-case scenario would lead to forced evacuations.

‘Losing the protecting swath of beach sand between us and the pounding surf exposes critical infrastructure, businesses, and homes to damage, Vitousek says. ‘Beaches are natural resources, and it is likely that human-management efforts must increase in order to preserve them’.

On a positive note, the California Coastal Commission had already been encouraging cities to harden their coastlines by building seawalls and strategically placing large rocks to stem the impact of larger waves. This new data should, if ratified, streamline such efforts to maximise their effectiveness.

While prevention projects are ongoing, there is some scepticism as to the severity of the threat. A lack of consensus around the reliability of beach morphology models, paired with a limited dataset to draw from leads many to believe further research is required before resources and funds are mobilised.

The fact that this represents the very first instance that ‘satellite-derived shorelines have been used for this type of analysis,’ appears to be something of a double edged sword.

A first glance at the data is hugely sobering and suggests we need to spring into action now, but the distinct lack of third-party verification means the study will ultimately be taken with a pinch of salt, pardon the pun.