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Prather Lab sound alarm: hydrogen sulfide spikes far exceed California standards in Imperial Beach
Summary
Researchers from the Prather Lab told the Imperial Beach City Council that hydrogen sulfide (H2S) concentrations near the Tijuana River Valley are spiking to levels hundreds to thousands of times above California standards; presenters recommended indoor filtration and made near-real-time data available online.
Leila Lehi Masri, a senior graduate student in Professor Kim Prather’s laboratory at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, told the Imperial Beach City Council on April 15 that local monitoring shows repeated, sharp spikes in hydrogen sulfide and other pollutants tied to the Tijuana River Valley.
Masri and Aurora Tchaikovsky, both presenting for the Prather Lab, said the team deployed a mobile laboratory and coastal sampling equipment in 2024 and has since measured criteria pollutants and a range of gases and aerosols. "One-minute peak concentrations reach as high as 4,500 parts per billion," Masri said, noting California Air Resources Board guidance of 30 ppb (hourly) and a chronic standard of 7.3 ppb. Masri added that nightly averages in January–April 2026 have often exceeded the CARB hourly standard and that the laboratory’s…
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