“…We thank Warrick et al (2019) for their interest in our Monterey Bay (MB) research (Carlin et al, 2019) and welcome the opportunity to further clarify components of our work. Warrick et al (2019) contend that our conclusion that changes in the littoral sand fraction (LSF; %sand fraction >180 µm) reflect coastal erosion was "speculative at best, and very likely incorrect" and offered alternative sources and mechanisms to explain the data. We counter that, while our conclusion was speculative, it was consistent with our empirical data, and the alternative explanations they presented are no more viable than those we explored in our original publication (Carlin et al, 2019).…”