Flood-protection berms being constructed near Balboa Pier in Newport Beach, California, ahead of swells generated by hurricanes Polo and Odalys during the weekend of September 25, 2026.
USC Sea Grant Receives Funds to Track Southern California’s Coastal Defenses During El Niño
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (September 28, 2026) – As Southern California prepares for a potentially record-breaking El Niño winter, USC Sea Grant researchers are preparing to monitor one of the region’s first lines of defense against coastal flooding: its beaches.
With a generous $30,000 gift from The Seaver Institute, USC Sea Grant and the USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability will launch a research project documenting how protective beach berms respond to powerful waves, high water levels, and repeated storms.
Beaches often absorb the first impacts when major storms reach the coast. Under typical storm conditions, eroded sand usually returns once conditions calm. During El Niño, however, larger, more frequent storms can leave beaches little time to recover, compounding damage with each event.
El Niño winters have historically produced some of California’s most damaging coastal conditions. The winter of 2015-2016 saw record-breaking erosion rates, up to 76 percent above normal. The major 1982–83 El Niño event caused widespread flooding, erosion, and wave damage across Los Angeles, resulting in an estimated $1.03 billion in statewide damage.
More recently, Hurricane Marie, fueled in part by El Niño-warmed waters, brought huge swells this September that caused flooding and a seawall collapse in Long Beach, created a major sinkhole in Malibu, and forced the closure of rail travel through San Clemente due to cliffside erosion. On September 21, 2026, Governor Newsom declared a state of emergency in anticipation of the upcoming storm season.
El Niño is already significantly elevating water levels, with NOAA tide data showing a 0.8-ft anomaly above predicted levels, and this year’s king tides are expected to be among the highest in nearly 20 years. Even without a major storm, elevated water levels can threaten low-lying areas. Experts from UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography state that the risk increases substantially when high tides, water levels, and storms coincide, a triple threat that is becoming increasingly probable this winter. USC’s research comes at a critical time for protecting Southern California’s natural resources and densely populated coastline.
“Beach berms and restored dunes are often used as nature-based flood protection for our coastal communities, but there is still a lot left to learn about how they perform during extreme and repeated storms like those we expect this winter,” said Dane Lazarus, USC Sea Grant’s Coastal Resilience Specialist, who is leading the project. “This funding will allow us to observe these defenses in detail, as the storms are happening, and better understand when they hold, when they erode, and when they fail, so we can design more effective protection in the future.”
The team will focus on study sites in the Los Angeles region that use protective berms and have experienced significant flooding or erosion during past storms. Researchers will survey beach profiles before the winter storm season and after major events, while coastal monitoring cameras at selected sites will provide continuous, high-resolution observations during storms. Together, these tools will help the team track wave runup, overtopping, and erosion to identify when and how berms begin to break down.
The project will also contribute to broader coastal monitoring and hazard assessment efforts in the region, including the development of a tool led by the California Geological Survey and U.S. Geological Survey to predict localized flooding during high-wave and storm events. Comparing model predictions with observed conditions will help researchers better account for local factors such as berm height, beach slope, and storm-induced changes in forecasts.
“Understanding how beaches respond during extreme storms is essential to preparing for the future,” said Jessica Dutton, Executive Director of the USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability. “The findings of this research will produce practical information that helps coastal communities make more informed decisions as they prepare for growing coastal hazards.”
The $30,000 gift will support monitoring equipment, field travel, and data analysis. It will also allow USC coastal engineering students to gain hands-on experience collecting data and studying coastal hazards during a potentially historic winter. The resulting dataset will provide an important record of how Southern California beaches respond to extreme wave conditions and repeated storms.
“This research shows how philanthropic support can help USC Sea Grant and the Wrigley Institute respond quickly to important and time-sensitive research opportunities,” said Karla Heidelberg, Director of USC Sea Grant. “We are deeply grateful to The Seaver Institute for making it possible to capture this important moment for Southern California’s coast.”
Ultimately, the project addresses a practical question of growing importance for Southern California: How well can our beaches protect coastal communities during powerful storms, and how can we strengthen those defenses for the future?
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About USC Sea Grant
USC Sea Grant is a federal-state-university partnership based at the University of Southern California. The program supports research, education and community engagement addressing critical coastal and ocean issues in Southern California.
About the USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability
The USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability brings together research, education, and engagement to address environmental challenges. Its work spans the natural and social sciences and focuses on developing practical solutions through interdisciplinary research, immersive education and collaboration with communities and decision-makers.