USC Sea Grant Innovation Helps the City of Santa Monica Gauge Public Concern about Sea Level Rise

May 4, 2022

Virtual reality installation, nicknamed “Owl,” on the Santa Monica Pier. Photo credit: USC Sea Grant

Planning for the impacts of sea level rise are a priority for the City of Santa Monica, but they struggle with how to engage residents on this issue. University of Southern California (USC) Sea Grant helped develop and deploy a virtual reality installation on the Santa Monica Pier showing future coastal flooding around the Pier due to the combination of sea level rise and storms. The installation was on the Santa Monica Pier from November 14, 2016 to January 14, 2017 and viewed by more than 10,000 people.

USC Sea Grant provided science support, outreach, communications, educational materials, and some funding to help Santa Monica engage local residents in the city’s planning efforts, in addition to engaging the public, teachers and students to increase literacy about sea level rise science and options for adaptation.

Group of people removing ghost nets from a beach.

Alabama

Biden-Harris administration invests $27 million to support community-driven marine debris solutions through Investing in America agenda

Today, the Department of Commerce and NOAA announced $27 million in funding for projects to prevent and remove marine debris in coastal and Great Lakes communities as part of President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

This funding will support innovative research and foster local coalitions to address urgent marine debris issues by using NOAA Sea Grant’s partnered approach to bring science together with communities for solutions that work.

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Community members and city leaders gathered during a listening session to identify key climate readiness needs in Erie, Pennsylvania during June of 2023. (Photo by

Biden-Harris Administration invests $60 million to build a climate-ready workforce through Investing in America agenda

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The funding will support nine projects around the nation, with $50 million going directly to the projects and $10 million for technical assistance to support the grantees.