With an El Niño winter bearing down on the coast, UC Santa Cruz researchers have launched CoSMoS Adapts, a free online tool that shows coastal flooding and erosion risk block by block and estimates how much different protections could save.
What it does
The tool, built by UCSC's Center for Coastal Climate Resilience with the U.S. Geological Survey, was released Oct. 19 alongside California's Fifth Climate Change Assessment. It builds on the USGS Coastal Storm Modeling System and lets users compare three options — raising seawalls, expanding offshore reefs and restoring dunes — across 2025, 2055 and 2085 and several storm intensities, according to UCSC.
"We're trying to help make sure that folks are aware of the risks that are real, that are now, how they will increase in the near future. And then most importantly, what are some of our options?" center director Mike Beck told KSBW.
Bay Area and coast pilots
Planners in Santa Cruz, Half Moon Bay and Ventura can already use the tool, UCSC said. The team estimates that restoring beach dunes could save Santa Cruz more than $40 million a year and Ventura $20 million annually. On Sept. 17 the State Coastal Conservancy approved a grant to expand the work to Los Angeles and Orange counties.
Developers told KSBW the tool isn't meant for homeowners to build their own dunes; it's designed to help city and county leaders prioritize projects, especially small governments that lack the resources to produce state-required sea-level-rise plans.