Metropolitan beaches are enormously important to the lives of people around the world and the health of planet earth. Hundreds of millions of people from all social strata visit metropolitan beaches every year, and a significant fraction of the global economy revolves around entertainment, tourism and business activity tied to coastal recreation and leisure. Beaches also serve as nature’s defense against coastal flooding, and future metropolitan beach loss from higher sea levels and reduced sediment supplies threatens trillions of dollars in housing and infrastructure and further degradation of coastal ecosystems.
Our work focuses on the study of metropolitan beaches, and we specialize in observations and modeling of beach change to raise awareness and to inform management efforts that equitably save beaches and the many services that they deliver to people and ecosystems. Here is an overview from Professor Brett Sanders.
Select an icon below to explore our work!
The Metropolitan Beaches Project is supported in part by California State Parks, the NOAA Effects of Sea Level Rise (ESLR) Program and the Samueli School of Engineering at UCI.
