Thursday, December 13, 2012

December 13, 2012 Thursday


King Tides

Yesterday and today were the highest tides of the year – 7.1 ft at 9:20 am on Wednesday and 7.2 ft today at 10:09. I traveled to Bolinas and Stinson Wednesday with my camera and to collect water samples for Surfrider’s water testing program. The water was rushing up the ramp at the end of Brighton Avenue and the waves were crashing against the retaining walls of the houses on both sides. The water was so high that there were no waves breaking at the Patch. The water rose four to five feet (my guess) up the cliff causing the swells to merely surge against the cliff wall. At the Groin, the entire Groin wall, from the cliff to the Groin pole, was inundated, the swells reached half way up the pole and the waves broke inside the point of the cliff. It was not a good surfing day.

Last September at the Surfrider Foundation Conference, which I attended, I heard the term “King Tides” for the first time. It came up in the sea level rise discussion. The speaker (sorry I can’t remember his name) mentioned the King Tide Photo Initiative. King Tides are the highest tides of the year, and they occur when the sun and the moon are aligned with the earth for maximum gravitational pull. Alignment occurs in during summer and winter months, and for a few days (four or five) the tides are extremely high and of course extremely low. He stressed that the King Tides illustrate those points along the coast that will be most impacted by sea level rise. The Tide King Photo Initiative encourages people to photograph flooded areas during extreme high tides, post them online to educate and alert people about potential problem areas.

So I have taken up this cause. I photographed Bolinas and the Bolinas Lagoon yesterday and low areas of Mill Valley today – mainly Tam Junction and the wetlands along the edge of Richardson Bay – and have posted them online, 41 photos in all. Click on the link below to view them. Here’s a list of what I saw:

  • Bay Front Park, Mill Valley, in front of the Southern Marin Sewage Plant – the bike trail was inundated.

  • In Bolinas, the boat ramp at the end of Brighton Avenue was swamped, waves crashed against the two houses at the base of the ramp and Groin wall was under water.

  • Highway 1 around the Bolinas Lagoon, at several points the water level of the lagoon was up to the edge of the road.

  • Seadrift, the water level of the lagoon reached the backyards of houses situated on the lagoon side.

  • In Mill Valley, police closed the northbound direction of Miller Avenue at Almonte, which is the south end of Tamalpais High School.

  • The water level of Richard’s Bay covered all of the wetlands, flooded parts of the bike trail and reached of bottom brace of two bike path bridges.

  • The high tide flooded the parking lot of the motel next to the bike trail.

  • The Highway Patrol closed the Manzanita Park and Ride due to flooding of the entrance and the access road.

  • Water flooded a hundred yards of the bike trail near the Richardson Bridge.


All you surf photographers get ready, the next King Tides are coming in a couple of weeks – 7.1 ft high tides Thursday and Friday, January 10 and 11. Let’s start building a photo journal of vulnerable sea level rise areas in Marin. Meanwhile check out my King Tides photos.



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