PACIFIC BEACH \u2013 Longtime North Pacific Beach resident Cheri Tabb can attest to coastal erosion north of Crystal Pier being a real problem.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s dealt with it for many years. And she can tell you it\u2019s going to continue to get worse \u2014 unless something is done to help make it better.<\/p>\n
A big part of the solution, in Tabb\u2019s view, is to find the political will to prevent people from accessing cliffs where they don\u2019t belong, which only adds to their degradation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve lived next to the cliff\u2019s edge on a one-way, dead-end street, and I consistently advocate for the protection and preservation of the cliffs,\u201d said Tabb.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have first-hand knowledge, having watched coastal erosion for almost the past 40 years. We have watched people sitting on the cliff\u2019s edge. Twenty years ago or more, the soil gave way and a boulder came crashing down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ongoing scientific research, meanwhile, is gradually adding to the understanding of coastal erosion, offering insight into ways of counteracting its debilitating effects.<\/p>\n
Coastal erosion refers to how coastlines get worn down over time due to increasing tropical storms, winds, tides, wave energy, and currents \u2014 all contributing to the deterioration of rocks, soil, and sand along a beach\u2019s coastline and cliffs. Erosion can change the shape of coastal landscapes, deterring tourism, altering biodiversity, and devaluing beach property.<\/p>\n
Human activities and climate change contribute to coastal erosion, as increased CO2 emissions and\u00a0warming oceanic temperatures\u00a0have a profound effect on coastal behaviors such as currents and\u00a0rising sea levels.<\/p>\n
Following three years of recent cliff surveys, researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography<\/a> at UC San Diego determined, for instance, that wave strikes directly affect the base of cliffs, while rain mostly affects cliffs\u2019 upper regions.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing today is not so much Mother Nature; it\u2019s the man-made erosion that is continuing and hurting our coastline,\u201d Tabb said. \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any enforcement (preventing access) for people sitting\/walking on them or building fires and camping or living up in the cliffs.\u201d<\/p>\n