Citizens asked to document king tides for climate science

Oregonians are being called to take pictures of the coast this week. For science. Coastwatch volunteer coordinator Jesse Jones says photos of extra high tides happening Nov. 24-28 and peaking Nov. 26, can help scientists learn how different communities will be impacted by climate change.

Oregon Public Broadcasting reports photographs taken by citizen scientists and assembled by the Oregon King Tides Project can show where the water might be when the oceans rise. The Oregon King Tides project wants pictures from all along the coast, to help figure out how to plan for rising seas. In particular, they need photographs of beaches as well as familiar landmarks like jetties, bridges, buildings, roads, seawall, shorelines, beach infrastructure and estuaries.

Jones notes that the most helpful beach pictures are taken facing north or south, so that it’s clear how far in or out the tide has come. Participants can upload the images to the Oregon King Tides website or post them to social media with the hashtags #orkingtides and #kingtides.