Overview
San Francisco Bay and Outer Coast Sentinel Site Cooperative WebsiteSan Francisco Bay and its Outer Coast comprise the largest estuarine area on the west coast of the United States. It is an ideal area to help achieve the vision of the NOAA Sentinel Site Program. The estuary serves as both a major urban and economic center and supports significant ecological value. It is home to over 7 million people, and retains some of the largest and most important natural areas along the west coast, including three National Marine Sanctuaries (Greater Farallones, Cordell Bank, and Monterey Bay), the Point Reyes National Sea Shore, the San Francisco Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, and the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The estuary serves as a major hub of commerce and supports the most intact Mediterranean-climate wetlands in North America. The Bay Area is also on the leading edge of efforts to support the resilience of this wealth of socio-ecological resources in light of changing sea level and coastal flood conditions.
The SF Sentinel Site Cooperative Management Team is currently made up of representatives from NOAA's Office for Coastal Management, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the San Francisco Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, NOAA's Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, and California Sea Grant.
The San Francisco Bay Area Sentinel Site Cooperative's goals are to build partnerships, capacity, and awareness. More specifically, we seek to:
- • Leverage Cooperative partnerships to help coastal professionals work collaboratively across jurisdictions on actions to improve resilience to sea level rise
- • Advance innovative new relationships between the Cooperative, coastal professionals, and nontraditional partners to support sea level rise awareness and adaptation planning
- • Help connect coastal professionals to NOAA and NOAA partner data, tools, and information that inform actions to improve resilience to sea level rise
- • Build coastal decision-maker capacity to develop and implement strategies that protect critical ecosystem and community services from the impacts of sea level rise
- • Support efforts to ensure that San Francisco Bay Area community members are aware of sea level rise impacts
Focus Areas
With an emphasis on sea level rise, Cooperative activities fall under three main focus areas:
- • Bridging natural and built adaptation planning
- • Supporting development of a regional network for early detection and forecasting of marsh ecosystem changes
- • Fostering resilience efforts that connect the ocean/outer coast and bay
Available Assets
Datasets and Tools
- NOAA water level and Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System data
- National Estuarine Research Reserve and National Marine Sanctuary system-wide monitoring programs.
- Topographic, land elevation base layer data for sea level rise and inundation mapping.
- Central and Northern California Ocean Observing System data sets and tools (e.g., wave frequency and energy)
Sea Level Rise Visualizations and Models
- Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flood Web Tools Comparison Matrix
- Stanford Unstructured Nonhydrostatic Terrain-following Adaptive Navier-Stokes Simulator (SUNTANS) for understanding wetland changes, and restoration options.
- NOAA National Ocean Service's Operational Forecast System
- U.S. Geological Survey Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS) – predicts inundation/flooding, wave heights, beach erosion, and cliff failures
- Delft 3D (limited area)—currently supports the Innovative Wetland Adaptation Techniques in Lower Corte Madera Creek Watershed project.
Current Trends and Community Adaptation Planning
Partners
NOAA
- NOAA Office for Coastal Management
- Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary
- Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary
- National Geodetic Survey
- Office of Coast Survey
- San Francisco Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
- Office of Habitat Conservation
- Southwest Restoration Center
- Southwest Fisheries Science Center
- Climate Program Office
- National Weather Service
Other Agencies and Organizations
See how the Sentinel Site Program is helping this region adapt to threats such as sea level rise:
Working Together to Build ResilienceFEATURED
Case Studies: Natural Shoreline Infrastructure in Coastal California
One alternative to coastal armoring is natural infrastructure, which is a cost-effective approach to mitigating the impact of floods, storms, and sea level rise in many places. A new report presents five case studies that document natural infrastructure at work along the California coast. | Download
Lifting the Fog
Over the past several years in California, new tools, models, and guidance have been developed to address the impacts of coastal climate change. Sentinel Site Cooperative members developed a website, "Lifting the Fog," to present these resources for coastal decision-makers.
PDF Download: San Francisco Bay and Outer Coast Sentinel Site Cooperative