As an avid user of the Oceano Dunes, it is amazing to hear how many people are concerned about windborne silica and other particulates that could be potentially harmful, and how they want to make major policy changes with minimal wind data.
I just have one simple question: Where are all the wind stations on the beach monitoring where and when it is blowing at the dunes/Pismo? Sure, you can see the large sand plume at the end of the beach when it is blowing, but is that enough?
I would like to recommend that someone set up a series of wind data stations throughout the length of the beach, and within the OHV area, to get a real accurate accounting of when it is blowing where. Incidentally, the buoys could be blowing 25 mph, but it could be dead quiet at the dunes! I do not see how anyone can formulate a good policy for the general public without this data at hand.
More importantly, this data should be made public in real time, which may help others to better understand and tackle this problem in a manner that has foundational support through historical data. Let’s tackle this problem responsibly and get the monitoring stations up!
This article appears in Oct 7-14, 2010.