title: Extreme oceanographic forcing and coastal response due to the 2015-2016 El Niño.
abstract: The El Niño-Southern Oscillation is the dominant mode of interannual climate variability across the Pacific Ocean basin, with influence on the global climate. The two end members of the cycle, El Niño and La Niña, force anomalous oceanographic conditions and coastal response along the Pacific margin, exposing many heavily populated regions to increased coastal flooding and erosion hazards. However, a quantitative record of coastal impacts is spatially limited and temporally restricted to only the most recent events. Here we report on the oceanographic forcing and coastal response of the 2015-2016 El Niño, one of the strongest of the last 145 years. We show that winter wave energy equalled or exceeded measured historical maxima across the US West Coast, corresponding to anomalously large beach erosion across the region. Shorelines in many areas retreated beyond previously measured landward extremes, particularly along the sediment-starved California coast.
authors.affiliation: United States Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA.
authors.forename: Patrick L
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1414-6476
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Barnard
authors.affiliation: United States Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hoover
authors.affiliation: University of California, Santa Barbara, Marine Science Institute, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Hubbard
authors.affiliation: United States Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Snyder
authors.affiliation: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Bonnie C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Ludka
authors.affiliation: Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, Coastal Field Office, Newport, Oregon 97365, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Allan
authors.affiliation: Washington State Department of Ecology, Coastal Monitoring &Analysis Program, Olympia, Washington 98504, USA.
authors.forename: George M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Kaminsky
authors.affiliation: Oregon State University, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ruggiero
authors.affiliation: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA.|University of California, Los Angeles, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Timu W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Gallien
authors.affiliation: Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, Coastal Field Office, Newport, Oregon 97365, USA.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gabel
authors.affiliation: Washington State Department of Ecology, Coastal Monitoring &Analysis Program, Olympia, Washington 98504, USA.
authors.forename: Diana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McCandless
authors.affiliation: Washington State Department of Ecology, Coastal Monitoring &Analysis Program, Olympia, Washington 98504, USA.
authors.forename: Heather M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Weiner
authors.affiliation: Oregon State University, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cohn
authors.affiliation: Oregon State University, College of Engineering, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA.
authors.forename: Dylan L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: Oregon State University, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA.
authors.forename: Katherine A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Serafin