Since 2010, the California Coastal Commission has engaged citizens in the California King Tides Project, inviting the public to take photos and videos of the higher-than-usual king in low-lying areas.The commission’s education and grant coordinator, Annie Kohut Frankel, said the king tides are one to two feet higher than average tides.“This project allows us to understand what areas are vulnerable to flooding,” she said. “Observing the high tides allows us to see what may flood and what may be vulnerable over the next decades.#placement_573654_0_i{width:100%;max-width:550px;margin:0 auto;}var rnd = window.rnd || Math.floor(Math.random()*10e6);var pid573654 = window.pid573654 || rnd;var plc573654 = window.plc573654 || 0;var abkw = window.abkw || '';var absrc = 'https://ads.empowerlocal.co/adserve/;ID=181918;size=0x0;setID=573654;type=js;sw='+screen.width+';sh='+screen.height+';spr='+window.devicePixelRatio+';kw='+abkw+';pid='+pid573654+';place='+(plc573654++)+';rnd='+rnd+';click=CLICK_MACRO_PLACEHOLDER';var _absrc = absrc.split("type=js"); absrc = _absrc[0] + 'type=js;referrer=' + encodeURIComponent(document.location.href) + _absrc[1];document.write('');“It also helps the public and planners be aware of current and future risks and to follow the sea’s rise.”Frankel said the next king tides watch will be Jan. 10-12 and Feb. 8-9, although high tides are expected along the California coast Nov. 25-27. The highest is expected to be on Nov. 26.“Next Tuesday in Crescent City, high tide is expected at 10:33 a.m. to be 8.27 feet,” she said. “That could give anyone wishing to participate in the January and February king tides project a chance to see the impact on low-lying areas, which could include some flooding.”The high tide number is the height above the mean sea level.Frankel cautioned observers to be aware of the high tides and to take precautions if they are on the beach.King tide photos can be taken anywhere that’s affected by tides, whether on the outer shoreline, in estuaries, or along lower river floodplains.Photos showing high water in relation to infrastructure - such as roads, bridges and seawalls - can be particularly striking, and reveal where flooding problems threaten. Shots of marshes or other habitats being inundated, or coastal shorelines subject to flooding and erosion, are also useful.The goal of this long-term citizen science project is to document the highest reach of the tides on an ongoing basis, for comparative study over a period of many years. Photographers who participated in past years are urged to return to the locations from which they took previous king tide photos to track those tides over time.Observers suggest that the king tides, while extreme today, will become the “new normal” as sea level continues to rise, and storm surges increase, due to global warming. Gaining a glimpse of tidal inundation likely to become common decades into the future will benefit planners, resource agencies, conservationists, and coastal citizens in preparing for these changes. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('ad-1515727'); });