Webinar: Coastal Erosion–A Worldwide Problem

About the event

King tide at Fishing Rock, courtesy of ORKingTides

Gary Griggs, Distinguished Professor of Earth and Planetary Science at the University of California at Santa Cruz, will provide a glimpse of “The Future of Oregon’s Coast.” The online presentation, taking place on Thursday, Oct. 17, at 6 p.m. is free and open to all.

The coastline is a dynamic environment. It has been eroding or retreating over the course of millennia, and will continue to do so, driven by a gradually rising sea level, but more importantly in the short term, by extreme events when very large waves arriving simultaneously with extreme high tides. These are the conditions in which the most coastal storm damage and erosion have historically occurred. With sea level rising at an accelerating rate and indications that waves are gradually getting larger, both public infrastructure and private property and development will be increasingly at risk.

Dr. Griggs, a world-renowned expert in coastal geomorphology, will survey coastal erosion as it is taking place worldwide, narrow the focus to the West Coast, and then again to our circumstances in Oregon. He will discuss the likely changes the shoreline will undergo, and the possibilities for addressing them. As he notes, “Our options for responding to these events are limited, but we need to look forward and make decisions now on how we will adapt to a different future.”

Gary Griggs has taught at UC Santa Cruz for 56 years. He received his PhD in Oceanography from Oregon State University in 1968. His research, teaching, writing and lectures have been focused on coastal processes, hazards, and the impacts of and responses to sea-level rise. He served as Director of the Institute of Marine Sciences for 26 years and led the development of the Coastal Sciences Campus at UCSC.

This webinar is sponsored by the Oregon Beaches Forever campaign, a partnership between Oregon Shores and the Surfrider Foundation, and by the King Tides Project, a collaboration between Oregon Shores’ CoastWatch program and the state government’s Oregon Coastal Management Program.

For more information about this event or the Oregon Beaches Forever campaign, contact Phillip Johnson, Oregon Shores’ Shoreline and Land Use Manager, (503) 754-9303, phillip@oregonshores.org.