Scripps Institution of Oceanography Awarded $40M for Coastal Research, Monitoring
UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography Tuesday was awarded a five-year, $40 million award from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a coastal research and monitoring program.
The Coastal Data Information Program is approaching its 50th anniversary of tracking sea temperature and wave observations and forecasts.
The USACE's Engineer Research and Development Center provided Tuesday's funding through 2029 — the latest in the longtime relationship.
"ERDC'S partnership with UC San Diego's Scripps Institution of Oceanography aims to deliver high-quality, critical coastal processes observations, like CDIP, to our nation," David W. Pittman, director of the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, said in a statement.
"These data, and other unique long-term measurements of coastal change in southern California, help USACE better understand how the nation's coasts are evolving and improve our management of sediment resources and coastal hazards."
CDIP was founded in the mid-1970s by the late Scripps research engineer Richard Seymour and his colleagues in the Ocean Engineering Research Group at Scripps. It monitors waves and coastal conditions along U.S. shorelines with more than 90 active stations.
The funding announced Tuesday will help support several key initiatives, Scripps officials said, including the maintenance of the national monitoring buoy network, advancements in wave measurements and analysis and the extension of "research to include beach change monitoring and modeling."
"Our beaches continue to be impacted by climate change and coastal erosion," said Rep. Mike Levin, D-Dana Point. "You can't have a beach town without a beach, and without a beach we risk declining tourism and growing threats to our coastal bluffs and the LOSSAN Rail Corridor.
"It's more important than ever that we monitor the conditions along our coasts. The Scripps Coastal Data Information Program has provided the essential data we need to help monitor the effects of coastal erosion and fix our beaches," he said. "I'm thrilled to have helped secure $40 million in federal funding for Scripps to continue their work to keep our district informed, safe, and strong."
Wave data collected by CDIP plays a major role during weather events such as powerful seasonal storms, allowing for timely marine warnings and advisories.
"This new award marks the largest in CDIP's history, and we are grateful to USACE for their support and opportunity to continue our research collaboration," said Eric Terrill, a Scripps oceanographer and co-principal investigator of CDIP.
