“Bluff collapses are a constant threat to coastal neighborhoods in my district and across the California coast, presenting the risk of fatalities, injuries, and millions of dollars in damage to vital infrastructure," said Assemblymember Boerner (D-Encinit
Source: La Jolla Light
Approximately 70% of California’s coast contains eroding coastal cliffs.
When these cliffs fail, the impacts can range from significant and cause crumbling infrastructure, to deadly when falling rocks pose imminent danger to beachgoers.
But a new study stemming from four years of research at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla offers potential early warning systems that could curb coastal destruction and danger.
“Scientists have been trying to predict earthquakes for a very long time,” Scripps geophysicist Mark Zumberge said in a press release from Scripps. “This study provided a unique opportunity to leverage what we’ve learned with earthquakes and apply it for these coastal hazards.”
For the study, Scripps coastal geomorphologist Adam Young and Zumberge leveraged a variety of in-ground monitoring tools and laser imaging technologies at a handful of vulnerable sites such as Beacon’s Beach and San Elijo State Beach in Encinitas and the Railway Corridor in Del Mar.
In particular, the team used a truck-mounted mobile light detection and ranging (also known as lidar) system, sensors and drones to track movement and change on the cliffs.
With this equipment in place, the Scripps team tracked two collapses in Del Mar and three in Encinitas during the four-year study period, and each time their sensors detected movement hours or even days before the cliffs fell.
In one specific instance in Del Mar in April 2024, by detecting a 0.1-inch crack in the cliff-top that extended 30 feet out, Scripps researchers keyed in on a possible issue weeks ahead of time.