King Tides
Left: Sandyland/Sand Point (Branden Aroyan) / Right: Predictive coastal flooding in Carpinteria (including Sandyland/Sand Point) due to SLR in 2100 (Our Coast Our Future, prepared by NOAA Office for Coastal Management, based on USGS sea level rise and storm scenarios models)
The Santa Barbara Airport flooded. Goleta Beach Park gone. The ocean washed over Cabrillo Blvd. – are these scenarios sensationalism? No. The above scenarios will come to pass by 2100 if nothing is done to prevent such inundation.
Sea level rise, directly caused by climate change, is a serious threat, and the King Tides of December 22-23, 2018 & January 20-21, 2019 gave us a hint of what the future looks like for Santa Barbara if we do nothing but talk about it.
A picture is worth a thousand words. During the King Tides of the past December and January, HTO contracted with On the Wave photographer Harry Rabin and well-known surf photographer Branden Aroyan to photograph Sandyland/Sand Point (Carpinteria coast area), Miramar Beach, Goleta Beach, and the Santa Barbara Airport, among other coastal spots.
The photos speak for themselves. All these areas are at risk of flooding — even now, in a high tide/storm event. Years ago, as climate change symposiums, plans, and analyses began to proliferate, HTO made strong input about adaptation to sea level rise. Years ago, we recognized how much of our infrastructure is located in flood zones, directly in the path of the incoming ocean. We maintained then, and emphasize now, that we must act. A building permitted today should last longer than 30-50 years. All the money spent on expanding the Santa Barbara Airport might have been better spent building a monorail to the Santa Maria Airport — because the Santa Barbara Airport is already flooding, and will only get worse with time and storms to come.
Left: Goleta Slough/Airport (Harry Rabin) / Right: Predictive coastal flooding in Goleta Slough due to SLR in 2100 (NOAA Our Coast Our Future)