Remembering Paul Komar: A Tribute to an Esteemed Oceanographer

March 14, 2023

Honoring the legacy of a coastal science legend

In memory of the late Paul Komar, this episode of the American Shoreline Podcast is a rerun of the original episode from November 2018. Co-hosts Peter Ravella and Tyler Buckingham are joined by Paul, Emeritus Professor of Oceanography at Oregon State University, where he discusses his research on coastal processes, climate controls on U.S. West Coast processes, and resulting erosion problems. Paul shares his experiences in the field of oceanography, his investigations along the West Coast of the United States, the Nile Delta of Egypt, and the coast of New Zealand, and his two books including Beach Processes and Sedimentation published by Prentice-Hall. Paul, 85, passed away on Wednesday, February 22, 2023. This rerun is a tribute to his contributions to the field of oceanography and in honor of his memory.


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Show Transcription
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Peter Ravella & Tyler Buckingham

Peter and Tyler joined forces in 2015 and from the first meeting began discussing a project that would become Coastal News Today and the American Shoreline Podcast Network. At the time, Peter and Tyler were coastal consultants for Pete’s firm, PAR Consulting, LLC. In that role, they worked with coastal communities in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina, engaged in grant writing, coastal project development, shoreline erosion and land use planning, permitting, and financial planning for communities undertaking big beach restoration projects. Between and among their consulting tasks, they kept talking and kept building the idea of CNT & ASPN. In almost every arena they worked, public engagement played a central role. They spent thousands of hours talking with coastal stakeholders, like business owners, hotel operators, condo managers, watermen, property owners, enviros, surfers, and fishermen. They dived deep into the value, meaning, and responsibility for the American shoreline, segment-by-segment. Common threads emerged, themes were revealed, differences uncovered. There was a big conversation going on along the American shoreline! But, no place to have it. That's where CNT and ASPN were born.