00:00There's a wave heading for California that could lift sea levels by about a foot, and you won't see it
00:05coming.
00:06It's called a Kelvin wave, but unlike a wave that curls and crashes, this is a massive, slow-moving pulse
00:12of warm water traveling across the Pacific.
00:15When trade winds weaken or reverse during an El Nino, warm water sloshes east beneath the surface, helping reinforce the
00:22ocean warming that defines El Nino.
00:25This warm blob near the surface expands, further suppressing cold water below the surface even deeper.
00:31When that slow-moving blob reaches the Americas, the coastline diverts part of it north along the Pacific side of
00:38Central America and Mexico, and that's a coastally trapped Kelvin wave.
00:42This one is migrating north at about 6 miles per hour, and is expected to reach California in late September
00:48and early October.
00:49Picture a broad bubble of elevated sea level up to a foot above normal moving up the coast.
00:55It's temporary, but when that extra water coincides with high tides, Pacific storms, and large waves, additional more exaggerated rounds
01:03of coastal flooding and erosion may cause more damage.
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