What are King Tides?

King Tides are a super high tide when there is alignment of the gravitational pull between the sun and moon.

When King Tides occur during storms ocean levels can rise significantly, which is cool, but they also have the potential to cause great damage to property and the coastline.

King Tides are part of nature’s beauty — they occur naturally about twice a year, they’re predictable, they’re majestic but they can be dangerous.

Climate change, sea level rise & King Tides

Increases in global sea levels have been recorded by NOAA tide gauges for many years, and more recent observations have been collected by NASA satellites. The steady rise in sea levels has been attributed to both a warming expansion of the oceans and contributions from melting glaciers and land-based ice sheets. Climate modeling combined with these direct observations suggest sea level rise will continue well into the future with significant implications for California’s coastal communities. During extreme high tide events, we can get an idea of what a permanent rise in sea level might look like in our communities.

Join the King Tides Initiative

The California King Tides Project is working with local volunteers to photograph these ultra-high tides to illustrate how homes, harbors, beaches, and wetlands, as well as public access to the coast may be affected by future sea level rise.

State and local officials and climate change researchers use the images taken during the king tides season to validate these sea level rise models and better assess local flood vulnerabilities for planning purposes. With more than five years of photographs taken along the coastline, the California King Tides Project is a growing citizen science initiative to help California communities prepare for an uncertain future.

High tide times:
Santa Cruz: January 11 at 8:00 am; January 12 at 8:48am
Monterey: January 11 at 8:07 am; January 12 at 8:54am

King Tides Project

Image: “Stormy Weather“, by sgrace, Creative Commons

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Join the King Tides Project: January 11 & 12

Join the King Tides Project: January 11 & 12

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