Coastal Flooding and Marsh Inundation
This page provides water level and water temperature data for 30 estuaries in California. Plots show conditions for today (i.e., real-time data) as well as prior weeks and months. Source data are available upon request.
Low-lying lands adjacent to estuaries become flooded from time to time, which is important for the health of coastal marshes and the estuary itself. However, infrastructure such as roads, buildings, and farms are also flooded, and such floods pose a threat to public safety – a flood risk that is increasing with sea-level rise.
The focus of this project is on shorelines that are sheltered from waves, i.e., estuaries, which includes semi-enclosed bays, lagoons, and river mouths. Flooding occurs due to a combination of spring high tides with storm surges, high river flow, and rising sea levels. This site provides real-time data for local communities and government agencies to inform them on emerging conditions before, during, and after flood events. It also provides historical data for analysis of past events to support coastal management.
This project and live-data platform are funded by the California State Parks Oceanography Program. Monitoring equipment was deployed at twenty new sites (blue labels) and data are also shared from ten existing sites (burgundy labels) maintained by partner agencies listed on site-specific web pages.
Explore the links below to learn more about each location and see plots of water level and water temperature in some of California’s most vulnerable coastal habitats.