San Diego County beaches gained width in the past year and average beach width across all of California has remained stable since 1985.
San Diego County beaches gained width in the past year and average beach width across all of California has remained stable since 1985.
Two new studies from researchers at UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography provide encouraging news about California's beaches at both local and statewide scales.
The 2025 San Diego County Beach Report found most beaches in the region grew in width last year as beaches entered a post-El Niño recovery phase, while a companion study published in Nature Communications discovered that California's average beach width has remained remarkably stable across nearly four decades despite notable examples of beach erosion.
Read More: University of California – San Diego
Image: The Coastal Processes Group at Scripps Institution of Oceanography uses LiDAR-equipped drones, trucks, ATVs and jetskis to conduct 3D surveys of San Diego beaches. (Credit: Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego)
