Two new studies from Scripps Institution of Oceanography researchers offer encouraging news about the resilience of California's beaches.
The 2025 San Diego County Beach Report found most regional beaches gained width last year as they entered a post-El Niño recovery phase. Typically, El Niño years bring larger, more powerful waves that rip sand from beaches and carry it offshore. Researchers expect this widening trend to continue for the next three to five years until the next anticipated El Niño.
However, the last recovery period (2016-2024) saw most San Diego beaches lose width due to strong waves from non-El Niño events, including intense atmospheric rivers. Some recent localized widening resulted from beach nourishment projects in Encinitas and Solana Beach, where sand has migrated southward.
A companion study, Interannual Wave-Driven Shoreline Change on the California Coast, used NASA satellite images to track beach width across the entire state from 1985 to 2021. This study revealed that California's beaches have remained remarkably stable over nearly four decades, despite well-documented examples of erosion which surprised the research team.
Across the state, "winners and losers" emerged. Some places experience significant erosion, while nearby places gain sand, effectively redistributing the sediment along the coastline. This unexpected stability suggests the beaches possess more natural resilience than anticipated. Even after a strong erosion year, jetski surveys confirm much of the sand remains parked offshore, eventually returning to the beach face.
