If you’re planning to be on the Oregon Coast this week, grab your camera and help document the latest “king” tide.

King tides are natural events, caused by predictable astronomical factors that generate tides higher than most high tides. By understanding which areas are most affected by king tides, scientists, emergency planners and local officials can get a better idea which places might also be susceptible to high water generated by increasing wave heights, winter storms and a rising sea level.

Since 2011, the Oregon Department of Land Conservation and Development has invited photographers to help visually document how high the water reaches during king tides  -such as the ones forecast daily for the Oregon coast through this Thursday, Nov. 15. Oregon joins Australia, British Columbia, Washington and the San Francisco Bay area in the documentary effort.

To learn more about the King Tide Photo Project – including where, when and how to photograph the tides,  what your photos should show and how to submit them to the project’s photo gallery – visit the Oregon King Tide Photo Project website.

Good king tide photos will show water levels adjacent to a fixed feature like a piling, seawall or bridge abutment. Including such features allow observers to track how the actual water levels vary over time. f Good photos also must include information about the location, the date and time the photo was taken and which direction the photographer was facing. Two photos taken from the same spot, one during the king tide and the other at a typical high tide, are also very helpful in highlighting these water events.

If you’d like to take part, but miss this month’s event, additional king tides are predicted for December 12-14th, 2012 and January 10-12th, 2013.

Learn more:

• Photographs from the King Tides project, on Flickr