Operation Sandtrap is a coastal reconstruction program based around protecting the coastal regions of San Diego. San Diego is characterized by its long stretching coastal cities and beaches. With this comes key populations, infrastructure, and natural reserves which are dangerously vulnerable to flooding and erosion. Among these areas, one which is of the utmost concern, and is the area of interest for this operation is the stretch of land from Torrey Pines to Del Mar.
Projections for 2070 leave critical areas at risk. By 2070, the sea level is expected to rise anywhere from 3 to 4.5 feet. This would result in the loss of hundreds of homes along the inland region. By 2070, cliff erosion is estimated to be at a 23.6 inches per year affecting the track of the Surfliner which transports millions of people each year. The implementation of sea walls and yearly sand dredging has become mainstay in Del Mar within the past couple decades. However, these solutions are only short term and actual impact sediment dispersal which typically aids in reducing cliff erosion.
Cliff erosion and sediment transport can be broken down into two main causes. The everyday rise and dropping of tides which brings sand outward due to gravity. And the large scale currents which traverse California which in San Diego is in the northward direction. This gives this region a net sand direction of Northward and outward
We must not view these currents as hostile, instead as a force to work for us. This influence can be achieved with a growing decommissioned naval fleet. Among those being decommissioned within this projects timespan are 9 Whidbey Island, 2 Montford Point, and 5 North-Hampton class vessels. These vessels have a history of mechanical and operational issues, becoming obsolete in the rapidly changing theatre of modern warfare. These relics best days are long behind them.
The decommission process can take 3 routes. One, we sell the ship to a scrapyard cheaply, sometimes as little as 1 cent. The ships are scrapped of their internals and broken down section by section. Second, it is sold to a foreign military entity and given a new life. And finally, our solution for the current problem, sinking to form an artificial reef. This is the path we must take to combat erosion and sea level rise.
Operation Sandtrap plans to use these vessels as a way to combat the cliff erosion and flooding along the coast from Torrey Pines to Del Mar. By sinking these vessels at the base of the Torrey Pines Golf Course they can act as an artificial reef to increase wave height and distribute sediment in a northward direction. A partial destruction of the golf course could result in large scale coastal reconstruction in this region.
The primary goal of the reef is to transform wave direction and height. Ocean swell, the waves which reach our coasts, are shaped by the contouring of the ocean floor. Waves move faster in deeper waters and slower in shallower waters due to friction of the ocean floor. The orientation of our reef is based solely on this principle.
The second purpose of this reef is to act as a sediment collector, or a sandtrap if you will.
Without proper ecosystem rooting, the dune sand will quickly disperse back to sea. Sustaining dunes requires a massive effort to plant dunal flora and fauna. This can be achieved with biodegradable golf balls fitted with Elymus Mollis seeds, a prominent dunegrass plant that is habitable in the San Diego region. By repositioning the Torrey Pines driving range to the above location on the map and using these golf balls, we could efficiently facilitate the ecosystem necessary to sustain dunes.
