Western Railroad Discussion > Coast Line and Sea Level Rise

I came across this City of Carpinteria document from a few years ago outlining the sea level rise problem and ideas for managing the future flood issue. One idea they float is to raise the railroad to create a barrier to protect downtown.

Union Pacific Railroad/LOSSAN Rail Corridor 
Downtown: Elevate the railroad to serve as flood protection for the Downtown area north of the tracks
Carpinteria Salt Marsh: Raise the railroad on a causeway to provide opening for tidal inundation to extend beyond the tracks and encourage wetland transgression
Carpinteria Bluffs: Armoring to slow erosion of the bluffs

https://carpinteriaca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/cd_General-Plan-Sea-Level-Rise-B_Executive-Summary.pdf

The Coast Line will be expensive to protect as there are miles of it sitting on bluffs that may come down with erosion.  To the north Elkhorn Slough will probably need to be raised as some point.

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

Dang, I like camping at Carpinteria State Beach.  There goes the campground.

mapboy

Why is anybody surprised we are still coming out of the last ice age

It will only take another 15,000 years for the water to rise 2”

Posted from iPhone

czuleget Wrote:
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> It will only take another 15,000 years for the
> water to rise 2”
>
> Posted from iPhone

I'd be more concerned about the storm surges, extreme droughts, excessive rainfall, etc. Stuff at the 1 to 2 standard deviation frontier.

If the Pineapple Express mega-storms kick in, the water coming from the interior of California to the ocean might do some damage to places along the coast.

czuleget Wrote:
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> It will only take another 15,000 years for the
> water to rise 2”
>
> Posted from iPhone

Wrong, flat out wrong.  In the SF Bay Area, in the past 100 years, the mean water level has risen 7 inches already--again, in only 100 years.  That's why SF at high tides now has sidewalks underwater or getting wet, despite the seawall they built 100 years ago.  Half of that sea level gain has happened since 1993.  Estimate is large parts of waterfront SF underwater within 70 years.  These are measurements kept by local Coast Guard and water agenices.  Being that we are still emerging from the last Ice Age, and glaciers are melting faster every month, the sea level rise is accelerating.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/22 22:30 by coach.

coach Wrote:
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> Wrong, flat out wrong.  In the SF Bay Area, in
> the past 100 years, the mean water level has risen
> 7 inches already--again, in only 100 years.

Not exactly. It's actually more likely that the Bay area is slowly sinking. Around the world, many places have seen no noticeable rise in sea level, while other places that are sinking are experaincing flooding. Venice, Italy being a very notable location with that issue.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

The issue of sea level rise, coastal land subsidence is of extreme interest to mortgage issuers and property insurers.

Increased number of "hundred year" storms is a concerning problem. I wouldn't be surprised if UP offers to sell the coast line to the state. Make it their problem.

Posted from Android

I don't think 100 years ago, there was any sophisticated effort to measure the 'sea level' to any accurate measure that would measure it in inches.

The Coast line has longevity issues and is built in some unstable areas, but it has nothing to do with any so called man made climate change. That is a scheme that politicians have created and the media has been pushing - adjusting it accordingly as each prediction turns out to be false.

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> The issue of sea level rise, coastal land
> subsidence is of extreme interest to mortgage
> issuers and property insurers.
>
> Increased number of "hundred year" storms is a
> concerning problem. I wouldn't be surprised if UP
> offers to sell the coast line to the state. Make
> it their problem.
>
> Posted from Android

Interestingly Corning, NY had "100 year floods" in 1935,46,48 and 72. Yet it hasn't had any since 1972.

Weather is going to do what weather wants to do!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/22 08:10 by NYSWSD70M.

The issue at Elkhorn Slough is only partly whether the sea, or storm surges raise the water level, the ground upon which the RR is constructed is old coastal aluviem with a high organic content.
This material gradually decays and shrinks so the ground will settle over the years and decades.  The same is true of many coastal areas including the Suisun near Carquinez Strait and the south end of San Francisco bay.
And famously the whole Mississippi delta, which is gradually shrinking the LA coastline.

The SF Bay Area is sinking?  Wow, that's a good one.  Been here most of my life.  If anything, the earthquake faults are thrusting land forms upward.  We're not sinking.

Isn't the Marina area in San Francisco a dump site for burned wood and demo waste etc from the 1906 earthquake and fire?

Posted from Android

I've been camping at Carp for over fourty years, and my tidal observation is the opposite.   Water has been retreating.   Meaning, the waves are breaking further out now than they were back in the 70's.
 

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Isn't the Marina area in San Francisco a dump site
> for burned wood and demo waste etc from the 1906
> earthquake and fire?
>
> Posted from Android

Yes, the SF Marina and Embarcadero were used to dump much of the debris from the 1906 Earthquake and fire.

coach Wrote:
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> The SF Bay Area is sinking?  Wow, that's a good
> one.  Been here most of my life.  If anything,
> the earthquake faults are thrusting land forms
> upward.  We're not sinking.

As a SF Peninsula expatriot, The San Adreas an Hayward faults are "left lateral" faults meaning that the left side (Pacific Ocean side) moves north relative to the right side. These faults do not generally move vertically.

Areas such as Foster City which is built upon an old baylands garbage dump on top of unconsolidated bay mud are subject to liquifaction. The tremors or shock waves of an earthquake can turn the ground into a kind or watery "soup". I recall a demonstration at a USGS open house in Menlo Park years ago where a plastic basin was filled with sand, water was added to fill in between the grains of sand, then a small structure simulating a house, was placed atop the damp mixture. My daughters took great joy in hitting the side of the basin with a mallet and watching the house topple over or submerge into the soup.

The South Bay crossing (ex-SP Mulford Line) through Alviso towards Oakland, the abandoned Dumbarton crossing and other areas would be subject to the liquifaction as described above. 

Fascinating and eye-opening discussion.  Thank you to all who contributed thus far.