Such a profile may lead to increased damage from winter waves in the future, Ruggiero explained. When there's a long shoal, the wave has a long time to dissipate that energy. When it steepens, you have more intense energy closer to shore. That means more sediment transport and more shoreline change. The lack of sediment coming down the Columbia to nourish the beaches, and the steeper wave profile might make it doubly difficult for Seaview's beaches to stave off future erosion.
More data still needs to be collected before scientists are ready to make perdictions.
Ruggiero says that the program has been funded for two more years starting in June. The focus of the study is to merge understanding of the long term changes of coastal shorelines, with land management at the local level. The study group works closely with Pacific and Grays Harbor counties, keeping resource managers up to date on their latest findings so that the information can be incorporated into land use decisions.