ABSTRACT:

Saltwater intrusion into coastal freshwater systems is a growing concern in the face of climate change‐driven sea level rise and hydrologic variability. This resource includes data and analysis scripts that were used to identify oceanic and inland hydrologic drivers of saltwater intrusion in the Pajaro Valley, California. Specifically, this resource provides a curated set of hydrologic (river stage, discharge, and salinity; precipitation) and oceanographic (oceanic total water level) data for the coastal Pajaro Valley, California and adjacent Monterey Bay between 2012 and 2020. The curated data (.csv) were derived from publicly available data sources, and are quality-controlled and analysis-ready; scripts (.ipynb) were used to generate analyses (figures, statistics) using the curated data; and README files (.txt, .rtf) provide summary descriptions of data. A detailed presentation of data and analyses can be found within the associated publication (see citation below), which demonstrates how both ocean wave and inland flow conditions govern estuary closures and coincident saltwater intrusion.

Kim, L. N., Meusel, C., Barker, R., Lockwood, B., Strudley, M., Behrens, D., et al. (2025). Dynamics of saltwater intrusion into coastal freshwaters in the California Central Coast. Water Resources Research, 61, e2024WR037141. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024WR037141