El Nino 2015-16 and California sandy beaches

The imact of the 2015-16 El Niño on California's sandy beaches

The 2015-16 El Niño Winter Pattern showed:

1. state-wide, dynamic response (typically extreme erosion and accretion) at river mouths
2. on the central coast, high erosion at the northern end of the embayments, lower erosion/stability at the southern end
3. on the southern coast, accretion/stability on north side of shore-normal structures and erosion on the south side, which is the opposite of the 1997-98 El Niño winter observations

This graphic shows how the 2015-16 El Niño winter wave direction differs from a typical El Niño, as well as how the shoreline change differs in northern, central, and southern California in the 2015-16 El Niño versus long-term (1998-2016).