Santa Monica Bay - Now At Higher Risk of a "Stealth Tsunami" - 2012

 

Santa Monica Bay - Now At Higher Risk of a "Stealth Tsunami"

In the 1950’s, prior to the California surfing craze, riding an inflatable raft in Pacific Ocean surf was more fun than anything else I could imagine. However, growing up in Burbank, California at that time implied a landlocked existence. Luckily, our own natural water park, at Sorrento Beach in Santa Monica was only an hour away by car. Several times each week of summer vacation, my mother drove us to the shore of that crescent shaped bay.

In later years, polluted runoff entering Santa Monica Bay contributed to rising cancer rates among L.A. County Lifeguards. The statistics were enough to deter swimming at Southern California beaches. Even though my visits to the shore were rare, I often dreamed about Santa Monica Bay. In those dreams, I stood ashore as an unseen tsunami approached from the west. After the Indian Ocean Tsunami in December 2004, I wondered about the tsunami threat in Santa Monica Bay. When the March 2011 tsunami hit the east coast of Japan, some of the heaviest damage occurred in and near Sendai.

Sendai, Japan stands at the head of a crescent shaped bay similar to Santa Monica Bay. While reviewing maps and pictures, I could see a tsunamical signature in the creation of Matsushima Bay, just north of Sendai. That “bay within a bay” is an archipelago of small, but towering islands, most having little or no beach. Lost in prehistory, a cataclysmic tsunami struck the coast at Matsushima. That huge series of waves quickly inundated and eroded the land, sweeping most of it out to sea. Today, those small, towering islands are all that remains of headlands that once overlooked the Pacific Ocean.

Earth scientists have long known that crescent shaped bays amplify wave action by focusing it at the head of such landforms. Within the city limits of Crescent City, California, Crescent Bay is one of half a dozen crescent shaped inlets. From the Great Alaskan Earthquake of 1964 to the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami of 2011, Crescent City often takes the brunt of Northern California tsunami activity. According to researchers at nearby Humboldt State University, the city experienced tsunami conditions more than thirty times between 1933 and 2011.

With the help of satellite mapping and paleo-flood surveys, there is sufficient data to prove that crescent shaped bays do more than amplify tsunami. It is my thesis that tsunami help to create crescent shaped bays, both large and small. As sea levels rise annually at a rate between 1.7 mm and 3.3 mm, the threat of destructive tsunami also rises. Each cubic foot of water weighs over sixty-two pounds. Even a small rise in sea level places staggering extra inertia behind waves concentrated by a crescent bay. In Japanese, tsunami means, “harbor wave”.

Reflecting on my dreams of Santa Monica Bay tsunami, I now pay closer attention to crescent shaped bays that I visit. Three of my favorite Pacific Ocean bays are Natewa Bay, Catalina Harbor and Hanalei Bay. Each of the three bays is unique and beautiful. Their common heritage includes both tsunamical creation and vulnerability to future tsunami.

In 2001, I visited Natewa Bay, Vanua Levu, Fiji. Immediately, I was struck by its size. Throughout the South Pacific, it is second in size only to Subic Bay in the Philippines. Our buree at Lomalagi Resort overlooked the head of Natewa Bay. Each day, we watched as the tides emptied and then refilled the bay. Stripped down to old coral and bedrock, the long, narrowing bay magnifies any tidal action. If not actually created by tsunami, Natewa Bay appears to have hosted many such events. Around 2005, some development wags proposed building human made islands in the upper reaches of Natewa Bay. Although the development website still exists, we see no sign of actual development. With high tsunami risk at Natewa Bay, near shore development makes no sense.

The small town of Two Harbors is located at Isthmus Cove, Santa Catalina Island, California. Facing the Southern California coast, Isthmus Cove is a reliable anchorage for pleasure craft. On the far side of the isthmus is Catalina Harbor. Similar to Natewa Bay, “Cat Harbor”, features a south facing underwater canyon. The isthmus, a gently tapered mound of earth, rises only sixty-two at its high point. If a thirty-foot tsunami arrived from the south, the isthmus at Two Harbors could easily become a “tsunami sweep”. It is easy to visualize a tsunami-induced flood topping the low isthmus and spilling into Isthmus Cove, on the far side.

Hanalei Bay, on Kauai, Hawaii is a classic tsunamical bay. Lying at the foot of the Hanalei River Valley, there is no deep canyon beneath the bay. The mouth of the almost circular bay opens to the northwest. Rather than sediment from the river extending into the Pacific Ocean as a delta, exposure to tsunami and other extreme wave action has carved out a semicircular bay. Within the gentle sloping river valley, great tracts of farmland remain vulnerable to future tsunami.

In my recurring tsunami dream about Santa Monica Bay, I stand onshore. As I look out to sea, the ocean water recedes. Then, with no warning, I see a large tsunami racing toward me. I turn, as if to run from the approaching wave. As the towering tsunami overwhelms me, I find that it is made of cloudy foam. At the time of my inundation, the great wave evaporates and whisks away like a fog. In my dreams, the Great Tsunami of Santa Monica Bay causes no harm. In our real world of rising seas and continued earthquake activity, we may not be so lucky.

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By James McGillis at 05:52 PM | Environment | Comments (0) | Link

A New Energy Weekend - Marina del Rey 2008

 

A New Energy Weekend in Venice, California

Sometimes we forget how nice it is to be on or near the water.  Last weekend, it was hot inland, so we visited WindSong, our 1970 Ericson 35 Mk II sailboat at Marina del Rey (MDR).

 

On Saturday afternoon, we drove to world famous Venice Beach.  For those who wish to be part of the scene, the Venice Beach Boardwalk is the place to be.  For those of us who like a beach sans crowds, the stretch closest to the Marina del Rey breakwater is best.  Despite the dearth of parking near the sand, we decided to try it.   

 

After circling the area for about fifteen minutes, we realized that our Nissan Titan Off-road 4X4 should be able to go where others fear to tread.  We held our breath, dialed in low-range 4-wheel drive, then tapped the throttle lightly.  We stopped on the sand, within yards of the beach.

 

As soon as we parked, another 4X4 truck, with fancy wheels attempted what we had just accomplished.  Even with his lift-kit and aggressive tires, he spun his wheels until all four were kicking sand.  His truck came to rest looking like a 4-wheel drive commercial.  His only problem was that he was stuck there for fifteen minutes.

 

One of the highlights of visiting MDR in the summertime is the unsurpassed day sailing on nearby Santa Monica Bay.  From any boat slip in the marina, you can be sailing on the bay in less than fifteen minutes.  Expect cool and overcast conditions until early afternoon, even in the summer.  The cloud cover keeps you cool and comfortable as you sail past Venice Pier, then on to Santa Monica Pier, where this high-tech trimaran passed us by.

 

Turning at Santa Monica Pier, we tacked towards the MDR South Entrance.  As hoped for, the sun came out, reflecting silver light across the sea.  As we delighted in the brisk breeze, Ben played his "Young Man and the Sea" role, all the while keeping us on course.  

 

Later, the less fortunate received a tow from Vessel Assist, while Bay Watch, LA County stood by.  In the background, you will see your Alaska Pipeline at work.  The tankers moored offshore from El Segundo are unloading there via undersea pipeline, connected to refineries onshore.

 

The first time I saw this sailboat, I did not know what to think.  I have seen graphics on racing sails before, but they tend to be iconic, rather than photographic.  Despite its blatancy, I like it.  Coors has a legendary quality from the early 1970s, when it was in short supply and bootlegged around the country by truckers.  Additionally, one can get quite thirsty while out on the water.

 

Sunset is always a special time of day at Venice Beach, where it meets the Marina.  Having spent as many hours sailing the bay and walking along this shore, I know that the Main Channel at Marina del Rey is at the center of the arc of Santa Monica Bay.  The Sun, wind and waves converge and focus vortextural energies on that place, showering and splashing a joy of life both to and from our universe complete.
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By James McGillis at 04:16 PM | Current Events | Comments (0) | Link

Time for Frito-Lay to Help Clean Up The Mess They Make - 2004

 

Time for Frito-Lay to Help Clean Up the Mess They Make 

In the winter of 2003-2004, while living aboard my boat in Marina del Rey, California, I visited Venice Beach several times each week, strolling along the tide-line and picking up discarded plastic items, as well as seashells, driftwood and whatever else the sea chose to give up.  My guess is that I picked up several tons of plastic waste during that season alone. I considered it my contribution to a "Healthy Earth". 

 

Not surprisingly, the #1 trash item, by count, if not by sheer volume was Frito-Lay, Inc. chip wrappers.  Often, they outnumber all other trash items combined.  On a good day, I could clean half a mile of tide line until it was free of trash.  In a tough day, after a storm sent urban runoff down Ballona Creek and into Santa Monica Bay, I would be lucky to clear one hundred yards of beach.

 

Since I love Fritos, Doritos and “Cheetos-breath” as much as the next person, I decided to see what Frito-Lay might be doing about the reduction of trash and solid waste in our environment.  Since they prominently display the word “Being Green” on their corporate website, I clicked there to see what the company had to say.

 

I was impressed to see how much the corporation was doing to decrease their use of energy, water and to reduce unnecessary packaging.  The problem is that chips need packaging and the sheer number of chip bags produced and discarded outweighs all of the company’s other efforts combined. 

 

On an even more disappointing note, Frito-Lay puts plastic packaging recycling directly back on the consumer.  Quoting from their website, they say, “Cans, paper and glass bottles tend to be more popular recyclable items than plastic [bags].  For more information about the feasibility of starting plastic recycling, we suggest contacting your local city sanitation department”.

 

The net result of this responsibility shifting is that very few of Frito-Lay’s chip wrappers are recycled.  When you combine their lightness with the American propensity to litter the landscape, millions of these wrappers are wafting away on the wind each day.

 

If there are few, if any plastic-wrap recycling programs in America, what can be done to reduce this “number one, with a bullet” solid waste disposal issue?  The solution is simple.  Each chip bag should come with a two-cent deposit, paid at the time of purchase.  One cent could go to whoever returns a chip bag to an authorized recycling center and one cent could go to the recycler for shipping and handling.  Frito-Lay, for their part, could provide sanitary, sealable containers to their route drivers and use their existing deliver fleet to pick up their own trash and recycle it.

 

American business has a long, sad history of polluting the land and water, changing its ways only when forced to do so.  Wouldn’t it be nice if a corporation as large and ubiquitous in our lives as Frito-Lay would step up and take responsibility for its role in the trashing of America?

 

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By James McGillis at 04:14 PM | Environment | Comments (0) | Link