Rising Sea Levels

摘要

Mention Earth's changing climate and retired RADM Garry J. Bonelli thinks back to the time when a hurricane swept through San Diego. It was 1976, and Bonelli was an enlisted Navy SEAL. Hurricane Kathleen teetered between hurricane and tropical storm as it moved north through Baja California and inundated Southern California with about a foot of rain. The deadly storm flooded roads and washed out a railway and half a desert town. Damage along the coast, though, was just as bad. Waves and storm surges plowed through parts of the barrier peninsula at Coronado, home to the Naval Special Warfare Command off the Silver Strand and North Island Naval Air Station. For some time, "there was no San Diego Bay," Bonelli said, noting seas breached the barrier at Emory Cove along the Silver Strand that is well-used for SEAL and amphibious training. "Essentially, the Pacific Ocean and San Diego Bay were one."