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The Kelvin Wave: coming soon to a coast near you | L.A. Times
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
This wave, known as a “costally-trapped Kelvin wave,” is a key element of the El Niño weather condition. It is bringing warm equatorial water across the Pacific from Indonesia and the Indian Ocean and has already hit the Pacific Coast of South America. There, now “costally-trapped,” it split, sending water both south and north along the Pacific Coast of the Americas. The northbound section has already reached Mexico and is somewhere near Puerto Vallarta. SoCal sea level is expected to rise around six inches.
California coast braces for another battering as new El Niño-related wave emerges in Pacific
By Rong-Gong Lin II Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times | 10 Sept 2026 4:12 PM PT
[North Carolina State University assistant professor Dillon] Amaya said he expects the wave to enter the Gulf of California on or around Sept. 19. Once there, it’ll take around eleven days for the wave to hug the gulf’s U-shaped coast and, from there, another several for it to travel from the southernmost tip of the Baja California peninsula — Cabo San Lucas — to San Diego. It’ll then take about two to three days to reach L.A., another two to three more to get to San Francisco.
That would put the wave’s arrival in Southern California in early October, although the exact timing remains uncertain.
There was already a Kelvin wave earlier this year moving from the western North Pacific to the Gulf of Alaska from mid-May to mid-June. During the El Niño season of 2015-1 there were “five or six coastally trapped Kelvin waves that made their way up the coastline.” Hurricane season is not yet over and warm ocean water makes hurricane formation in the eastern Pacific more likely.
Link to: JPL Sea Level Mission satellite video graphic of warm water swell moving across Pacific March 2 – May 18, 2026.
Link to: NOAA Climate Prediction Center Report: ENSO: Recent Evolution, Current Status and Predictions
Link to: JPL Sea Level Isn’t Level scrolling video
Link to: JPL 27-Year Sea Level Rise maps (example below)
Link to: NASA El Niño map below
Building a Better Birdhouse | Library of Congress
[Posted by Chuck Almdale, submitted by Edna Alvarez]
The Library of Congress has a weekly blog.
This recent posting feature photographs from early 20th century “bird house contests,” children’s competitions designed to foster a love of nature, as well as teach design and construction skills. It draws from several of the Division’s large photographic archives, including the Harris & Ewing, National Photo Company, and American National Red Cross collections.
This photo evokes fond memories for me as I spent a great deal of my childhood up one tree or another, doing this, that and the other.
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/npcc.03416
The linked article also provides other ways to access the Library of Congress, one of the world’s largest collections of documents and photos, such as their Prints & Photos Online Catalog.
Reporter investigates dead birds on our beaches | The LA Local
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
Intrepid reporter Megan Tan may or may not be able to name her pelicans, skimmers and gulls, but – alarmed by the number of dead birds on her beach – she went seeking answers. I admire her curiosity, concern, persistence, her investigative and reporting skills, and commend her for bringing this problem to the attention of a wider audience. Perhaps she’d like to join us on one of our Malibu Lagoon trips.
Something is killing birds on local beaches — and no one knows why
From bird flu to oil rigs to a mysterious oceanic heat wave called “The Blob,” experts are chasing theories. The birds keep washing up anyway.
By Megan Tan | May. 13, 2026 | The LA Local
Exerpted from the article:
As we walked and talked, we saw the usual suspects — abandoned toothbrushes, deodorant sticks and empty laundry detergent containers blowing like tumbleweeds. The cleaning products dirtying the stretch of sand didn’t make me want to put on my shoes, but the birds did.
“Is that a seagull?” I asked. It was dead. A few more steps and we saw a cormorant, one of those black, glossy birds that are always sunbathing with their wings out. Dead. A few more steps. Another seagull. Dead. More steps. Then another cormorant. Along a 1.5-mile stretch, I saw eight dead birds.
Long Beach waves damage beach, boardwalks & buildings | Long Beach Post
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
This story was published in several online sites, but the Long Beach Post seems to have originated it.
Waves demolished this beach and tore at homes’ foundations: why this storm was different
Hurricane Marie ripped through the Peninsula’s regular defenses, leaving residents racing to save their homes.
by Kate Raphael Sep 8, 2026 Updated 17 hours ago | Long Beach Post
Exerpted from the article:
A stretch of beach along Long Beach’s Peninsula is gone after a weekend of pounding waves eroded massive amounts of sand. The hurricane-driven swell left the area’s boardwalk in tatters and is threatening to undermine the foundations of more than a dozen oceanfront houses.
Homeowners and structural engineers were assessing the damage to about 20 residences, and crews were trying to rebuild defenses after a weekend of unforgiving waves pulled so much sand into the sea that, at low tide, there was a 15-foot drop from the boardwalk to exposed rocks below. The waves damaged the boardwalk’s already battered seawall and left dozens of homes exposed to future swells, which are expected to pummel Long Beach again on Tuesday evening.
Without the beach’s sand barrier and intact seawall, the ocean water can pour in beneath the boardwalk and attack the foundations of the ocean-facing homes.
Discoverer of the Cassia Crossbills of Idaho | Birding interview
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
This is a very interesting interview with the discoverer of the Cassia Crossbill in 1996, a new species and endemic to Idaho. Benkman is the author of Crossbills & Conifers: One Million Years of Adaptation and Coevolution.
A Birding Interview with Craig Benkman
By Noah Stryker | 2Sep 2026 | Birding Magazine
Noah Stryker was the American Birding Association’s 2004 Young Birder of the Year for 14- to 18-year-olds, has been an Associate Editor for Birding Magazine since 2006, and in 2015 set the World Big Year record with 6,042 species, now chronicled in his book Birding Without Borders.
SANTA MONICA BAY AUDUBON SOCIETY BLOG 