Laguna Beach Natural Threats from Climate Change

Laguna Beach Natural Threats from Climate Change

 
While not a part of the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement, we should review climate change related threats. The most common may be nature of heavy rains from atmospheric rivers, or so called Pineapple Express. These are narrow, on order of 250 miles in width, rain storms from the tropics that produce half of California’s total rainfall. They returned this year, after several years of drought. LB needs to check the drainage capacity should one hit. There may also be the consideration of heavy rain undermining a hillside and causing a landslide as in Bluebird Canyon in 2005.

Southern California trees are under siege from the PSHB beetle, which destroys Sycamores and about 40 other species.

Of course, there is the threat of an earthquake along the Newport-Inglewood fault, now possibly enhanced by the Rose Canyon fault stretching down to San Diego. There is also the recently discovered San Joaquin Hills thrust fault, which underlies the hills in Laguna Beach. Laguna is somewhat isolated by having entries from only three roads. None of them seem threatened in case of a quake. There are also no tall buildings in the area. The main threat after an earthquake are fires started by natural gas lines. Laguna should check that the main lines have blocks to shut the main lines off in case of a severe earthquake. In the near future, Laguna should get a program to shut off individual dwellings, businesses, and civic buildings.

There are also sea threats from climate change, such as red tides, and eventual sea level rise. Combining stronger storms and storm surge with sea level rise could hasten the erosion of cliff side beach homes. Warmer water has at times led to sting rays, jellyfish, and sharks. Local ocean ecologists should be consulted on future ocean threats.

The largest catastrophe was the fire of 1993, which came up from the canyon. We can anticipate continued droughts, and have to continually remove burnable brush. Since fires naturally burn uphill, again our hill structure makes this more of a threat than in a flat environment. With continued warming, California expects shorter winters to collect snowpacks, and faster melting of the snowpacks. In drought periods, there can be much less snow.

The ocean, beaches, cliffs, deltas, and hills that make Laguna Beach so attractive also harbor their own unique threats from climate change, and propel us to play an outsized role in slowing climate change.

About Dennis SILVERMAN

I am a retired Professor of Physics and Astronomy at U C Irvine. For two decades I have been active in learning about energy and the environment, and in reporting on those topics for a decade. For the last four years I have added science policy. Lately, I have been reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic of our times.
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