ENSO and PDO drive shoreline position anomalies in the US Pacific Northwest.

ABSTRACT: Sandy beaches act as buffers against various coastal hazards but are vulnerable to episodic (seasonal) and chronic (interannual) erosion. Understanding the variation of shoreline position, a key metric in coastal morphology, over a spectrum of time scales is therefore crucial in assessing hazard vulnerability. Long-standing research has investigated the role of El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the dominant mode of climate variability in the Pacific Basin, in seasonal shoreline variability. Yet, ENSO's chronic influence-and that of another Pacific climate mode, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO)-on shoreline anomalies remains poorly understood. Here, we examine the variability of sandy beaches in the US Pacific Northwest, a ∼750 km long coastal region on the US West Coast. We leverag

SUBMITTER: Taherkhani M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12817983 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature