El Niño-Southern Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation drive seasonal and interannual shoreline position anomalies in the U.S. Pacific Northwest sandy beaches, in Coastal Erosion Hazard Monitoring in the U.S. Pacific Northwest

This project examines the influence of large-scale Pacific Basin climate variability on coastal morphological change (i.e., shoreline positions) along the U.S. Pacific Northwest. It is supported in part by the Cascadia Coastlines and Peoples Hazards Research Hub (NSF award 2103713), the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS; NOAA-IOOS award NA21NOS0120093), and the NOAA Effects of Sea-Level Rise Program (award NA19NOS4780180). The project encompasses datasets, analysis code, and results linking climate modes, i.e., El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), to historical (1984–2024) shoreline position variability and climate-driven coastal erosion and accretion patterns across Oregon and Washington. The research is unique in its high spatial resolution (over 10,000 transects at 50-meter alongshore spacing across approximately 750 km of coastline, covering sandy beaches), 40-year temporal coverage, and its novel application of causal inference methods (Convergent Cross Mapping) to coastal geomorphology. The dataset published under this project contains input data, MATLAB analysis code, and output results alongside a README report for the companion paper published in PNAS Nexus (Taherkhani et al., 2026; DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf404). This project will benefit coastal scientists, engineers, and managers interested in climate-driven shoreline change, as well as researchers seeking long-term coastal datasets for hazard vulnerability assessments, morphodynamic model calibration, and comparative teleconnection studies. Those interested in the data should refer to the simulation dataset (Version 2) for the most current and complete publication. Version 1 has been superseded and should not be used.