“Human activities are starving the coast of its natural sand,” said University of California, Irvine flood lab director Brett Sanders, [civil & environmental engineering professor]. … Sanders said he and his team have looked at decades of satellite and aerial imagery of the coast to better understand erosion risks due to population, rising sea levels, intense rain, more frequent wildfires and other climate events. While Sanders said it is natural for beaches to widen and narrow, the OC coast reached a tipping point in 2015 that sparked the beginning of a rapid decline he attributed to higher-than-normal sea levels and large swells. Read More