The San O Underground

Date Announced! Attend the second San O Community Assembly on June 14!

Since the kickoff of the San Onofre Shoreline Resilience Project in December, much of the work has focused on developing a clear picture of Surf Beach geomorphology, essentially mapping the shape, material layers, and composition of the area. The team first started by reviewing existing data and has now moved on to surveys of the shoreline's topography and sediment as it exists today.

Last month we went even deeper — Literally.

Geotechnical borings and subsurface sensing were completed at Surf Beach, marking the latest milestone in our effort to understand the geologic makeup that forms the foundation of Surf Beach.

While we wait for the geotechnical report to be produced, this is what we expect the layers of San O to look like upon analysis.

Extremely unserious illustration by Alex

Why does this step matter?

Dumping material on top of a beach that’s experiencing chronic erosion and calling it a day, does not a resilient coast make.

While quickly deployable tactics like adding sand can help to widen a beach for a period (month, season, year), they don’t address the systemic change that’s occurring. To improve the resilience of Surf Beach (the ability to endure extreme weather and swell conditions), we need to understand all the elements that make up a beach, how those pieces move with ocean tides and waves, and how they interact with each other. Understanding the natural morphology of Surf Beach is vital to designing solutions that work with, rather than against, natural systems.

In short, the geotechnical data collected will allow our engineers to more accurately model how the existing shoreline and different resilience approaches might perform over time under storms, swells, and sea level rise.

The geotech report is now being processed and will feed into the next phase of site characterization. Once our engineers have a complete technical picture of Surf Beach, the possible resilience solutions will be soon to follow!

Geotechnical contractors prepare the boring drill

Next Up: San O Community Assembly Part 2!

We're excited to announce that the next San O Community Assembly, Part 2, will be held on Sunday, June 14, from 4 - 6 pm, at the San Clemente State Beach Firepit Amphitheater.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• What we've learned since December
• What we’ve heard from public input thus far
• The resilience concepts that are beginning to emerge
• (and most importantly) We'll have questions for you — because your vision for the future will shape what comes next!

While sitting in community with one another is always better, we're also offering a virtual webinar format (linked above) — because we know not all San O lovers live nearby!
  
Stay tuned, and thank you for staying with us as this project continues to grow.

How to Stay Updated

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