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Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 The Beach of the FutureThe coastal science that CDIP helped push forward stands to open new doors to the beach of the future. The program's wave knowledge base is allowing Guza to study surf zone currents and how pollution moves across the shoreline, valuable information in an era in which human-produced contaminants frequently afflict the coast. "The beach is constantly in motion, whether it's eroding or accreting, so in the future I see a very tight meshing of the wave data component of CDIP with both the science and engineering of the effect of these waves on the coastline, whether it's inundation, erosion, or structural damage," said Seymour.  
The future also brings CDIP's research to bear in examining how the coastline might transform in a warming world. Last year's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report indicated that sea levels will rise between 0.2 meters (7 inches) and 0.6 meters (23 inches) by the end of the century. A recent analysis by Scripps scientists suggests the rise could be even greater in that time span, ranging from 0.5 meters (19 inches) to one meter (39 inches).  
"What will the shoreline look like 50 years from now?" asks Guza. "CDIP is getting involved in trying to understand the range of responses the shoreline might have to the range of sea level scenarios that are emerging. How do we maintain sandy beaches in the face of rising sea level?" Guza believes the time is right to find out for science and improved beach management and new technologies will help him get there. "In order to understand what might happen in the future, a prerequisite is to understand what is going on now." |
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