File:Post-storm Sediment off California's Pacific Coast (MODIS 2024-01-07).jpg

English: Two powerful storms struck southern California in the last week of December 2023, bringing pounding surf, giant waves, and heavy rain to the region. The first storm struck on December 28 and sent enormous waves measuring more than twenty feet high crashing over seawalls. Several media reports documented monster waves in Ventura County, one of which injured eight people as they watched the stormy spectacle. Subsequently, all Ventura County Beaches were closed through December 31, preventing additional risk as another storm brought a second round of vicious waves and rain on December 30 – 31.

The powerful, massive waves easily washed up cars in their path and swept them inland, as numerous videos posted on social media illustrated. That kind of power also moved tons of sand onto land, making some streets impassable. For example, The VC Star, a news publication for Ventura County, reported that a street in Ventura’s Pierpont neighborhood was covered by 18 inches of sand after the waves settled.

Any waves powerful enough to bury streets in sand and carry cars inland are, for sure, also powerful enough to sweep sediment out to sea.

On January 1, 2024, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of long tendrils of tan and green post-storm sediment floating along the shoreline of Southern California and stretching into the Pacific Ocean. Sediment typically appears tan when it floats near the surface of water and then takes on a greenish tint as it sinks.

The large islands are the Channel Islands and the town of Oxnard, Ventura County, can be seen as gray pixels on the California coast east of the islands. The town of Ventura is located just north of Oxnard.