California Beaches Face Higher Seas and Greater Erosion Risk as an El Niño Kelvin Wave Arrives Within Weeks
Nature World News | 22.09.2026 21:00
A slow pulse of elevated Pacific water set in motion by El Niño is expected to raise sea levels along the California coast by roughly 6 inches to a foot over the coming weeks. It will not look like much. There is no breaking wave to watch, only a gradually higher waterline that tide gauges will record as the pulse moves up the coast. "It's not a wave you can surf," North Carolina State University oceanographer Dillon Amaya told the San Francisco Chronicle.
