CMG research utilizes many kinds of remote sensing in our search for useful
data: satellites collect information about the sea surface; sonar systems
record sea-floor topography and the sub-surface structure;
remotely-operated vehicles transmit video of the sea floor; buoys collect information about weather and water activity; and aircraft map nearshore topography.
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Response In order to assess and prepare for impacts from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center is providing lidar, bathymetry, sediment core, and other data, as well as modeled scenarios of barrier-island inundation as the situation evolves. Posted: 2010-05-12
A Review of Land-Cover Mapping Activities in Coastal Alabama and Mississippi Land-use and land-cover (LULC) data provide important information for environmental management. Data pertaining to land-cover and land-management activities are a common requirement for spatial analyses, such as watershed modeling, climate change, and hazard assessment. In coastal areas, land development, storms, and shoreline modification amplify the need for frequent and detailed land-cover datasets. The northern Gulf of Mexico coastal area is no exception. The impact of severe storms, increases in urban area, dramatic changes in land cover, and loss of coastal-wetland habitat all indicate a vital need for reliable and comparable land-cover data. Posted: 2010-05-10
Archive of Digital Boomer Seismic Reflection Data Collected Offshore East-Central Florida During USGS Cruise 00FGS01, July 14-22, 2000 n July of 2000, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Florida Geological Survey (FGS), conducted a geophysical survey of the Atlantic Ocean offshore Florida's east coast from Brevard County to northern Martin County. This report serves as an archive of unprocessed digital boomer seismic reflection data, trackline maps, navigation files, Geographic Information System (GIS) information, digital and handwritten Field Activity Collection System (FACS) logs, and Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata. A filtered and gained (a relative increase in signal amplitude) digital image of each seismic profile is also provided. Refer to the Acronyms page for expansions of all acronyms and abbreviations used in this report. Posted: 2010-04-29
Archive of Digital Boomer Seismic Reflection Data Collected During USGS Field Activity 08LCA04 in Lakes Cherry, Helen, Hiawassee, Louisa, and Prevatt, Central Florida, September 2008 From September 2 through 4, 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) conducted geophysical surveys in Lakes Cherry, Helen, Hiawassee, Louisa, and Prevatt, located in central Florida, as part of the USGS Lakes and Coastal Aquifers (LCA) study. This report serves as an archive of unprocessed digital boomer seismic reflection data, trackline maps, navigation files, Geographic Information System (GIS) files, and formal Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata. Filtered and gained (a relative increase in signal amplitude) digital images of the seismic profiles are also provided. Refer to the Acronyms page for expansions of acronyms and abbreviations used in this report. Posted: 2010-04-28
ATM Coastal Topography–Florida 2001: Eastern Panhandle This DVD contains Lidar-derived first surface (FS) topography GIS datasets of the eastern Florida panhandle coastline, from Shell Island to Mashes Island. These datasets were acquired October 2, 2001. Posted: 2010-04-21
ATM Coastal Topography–Florida 2001: Western Panhandle This DVD contains Lidar-derived first surface (FS) topography GIS datasets of the western Florida panhandle coastline, from Perdido Key to Lower Grand Lagoon. These datasets were acquired October 2-4 and 7-10, 2001. Posted: 2010-04-21
ATM Coastal Topography–Texas, 2001: UTM Zone 14 This DVD contains lidar-derived first-surface (FS) topography GIS datasets of a portion of the Texas coastline, within Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) zone 14, from Mustang Island to Matagorda Peninsula. These datasets were acquired October 12-13, 2001. Posted: 2010-03-05
ATM Coastal Topography–Texas, 2001: UTM Zone 15 This DVD contains lidar-derived first-surface (FS) topography GIS datasets of a portion of the Texas coastline within Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) zone 15, from Matagorda Peninsula to Galveston Island. These datasets were acquired October 12-13, 2001. Posted: 2010-03-05
ATM Coastal Topography–Mississippi, 2001 This DVD contains lidar-derived first-surface (FS) topography GIS datasets of the Mississippi coastline, from Lakeshore to Petit Bois Island. These datasets were acquired September 9-10, 2001. Posted: 2010-03-05
ATM Coastal Topography–Louisiana, 2001: UTM Zone 15 (Part 1 of 2) This DVD contains lidar-derived first-surface (FS) topography GIS datasets of a portion of the Louisiana coastline beach face within Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Zone 15, from Isles Dernieres to Grand Isle. These datasets were acquired September 7 and 10, 2001. Posted: 2010-03-05
ATM Coastal Topography–Louisiana, 2001: UTM Zone 16 (Part 2 of 2) This DVD contains lidar-derived first-surface (FS) topography GIS datasets of a portion of the Louisiana coastline beach face within Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Zone 16, from Grand Isle to the Chandeleur Islands. These datasets were acquired September 7 and 9, 2001. Posted: 2010-03-05
ATM Coastal Topography–Alabama 2001 This DVD contains Lidar-derived first surface (FS) topography GIS datasets of the Alabama coastline. These datasets were acquired October 3-4, 2001. Posted: 2010-03-04
Decision Support for Coastal Science and Management The Decision Support for Coastal Science and Management project, sponsored by the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program (CMGP) is supporting the creation of new capabilities for the synoptic remote sensing of coastal-marine and terrestrial environments based on aircraft and satellite sensors. These coastal remote-sensing, mapping, and point-monitoring tools constitute a unique integrated package of instrumentation and software that may be deployed in support of appropriately timed and scaled zoning decisions by management authorities in order to conserve and sensibly exploit nearshore coastal and marine ecosystems. Posted: 2010-02-23
Cascadia Seismic Hazard Studies Investigations of Earthquake and Tsunami Hazards and History in the Pacific Northwest, specifically the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Posted: 2009-07-24
Equipment Used in Marine Geology Research Description and links to information on nine types of marine geology research equipment used by the USGS Western Region Coastal & Marine Geology Team Posted: 2009-07-02
WCMG Marine Facility Home Page Links to software downloads and documentation for YoNav and MudSeis systems used on Western Region Coastal and Marine Geology Team cruises. Posted: 2009-07-02
USGS Coral Reef Studies Coral Reef Studies conducted in Hawaii, Florida and California. Posted: 2009-06-24
USGS Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM) The goal of the USGS Northern Gulf of Mexico project is to understand the evolution of coastal ecosystems on the Northern Gulf Coast, the impact of human activities on these ecosystems, and the vulnerability of ecosystems and human communities to more frequent and more intense hurricanes in the future. Posted: 2009-05-28
Scientific Investigations Report 2008-5094: Connections Among the Spatial and Temporal Structures in Tidal Currents, Internal Bores, and Surficial Sediment Distributions Over the Shelf off Palos Verdes, California The topography of the Continental Shelf in the central portion of the Southern California Bight has rapid variations over relatively small spatial scales. The width of the shelf off the Palos Verdes peninsula, just northwest of Los Angeles, California, is only 1 to 3 km. About 7 km southeast of the peninsula, the shelf within San Pedro Bay widens to about 20 km. In 2000, the Los Angeles County Sanitation District began deploying a dense array of moorings in this complex region of the central Southern California Bight to monitor local circulation patterns. Moorings were deployed at 13 sites on the Palos Verdes shelf and within the northwestern portion of San Pedro Bay. At each site, a mooring supported a string of thermistors and an adjacent bottom platform housed an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler. These instruments collected vertical profiles of current and temperature data continuously for one to two years. The variable bathymetry in the region causes rapid changes in the amplitudes and spatial structures of barotropic tidal currents, internal tidal currents, and in the associated nonlinear baroclinic currents that occur at approximate tidal frequencies. The largest barotropic tidal constituent is M2, the principal semidiurnal tide. The amplitude of this tidal current changes over fairly short along-shelf length scales. Tidal-current amplitudes are largest in the transition region between the two shelves; they increase from about 5 cm/s over the northern San Pedro shelf to nearly 10 cm/s on the southern portion of the Palos Verdes Shelf. Tidal-current amplitudes are then reduced to less than 2 cm/s over the very narrow section of the northern Palos Verdes shelf that lies just 6 km upcoast of the southern sites. Models suggest that the amplitude of the barotropic M2 tidal currents, which propagate toward the northwest primarily as a Kelvin wave, is adjusting to the short topographic length scales in the region. Semidiurnal sea-level oscillations are, as expected, independent of these topographic variations; they have a uniform amplitude and phase structure over the entire region. Because the cross-shelf angle of the seabed over most of the Palos Verdes shelf is 1 to 3 degrees, which is critical for the local generation and/or enhancement of nonlinear characteristics in semidiurnal internal tides, some internal tidal-current events have strong asymmetric current oscillations that are enhanced near the seabed. Near-bottom currents in these events are directed primarily offshore with amplitudes that exceed 30 cm/s. The spatial patterns in these energetic near-bottom currents have fairly short-length scales. They are largest over the inner shelf and in the transition region between the Palos Verdes and San Pedro shelves. This spatial pattern is similar to that found in the barotropic tidal currents. Because these baroclinic currents have an approximate tidal frequency, an asymmetric vertical structure, and a somewhat stable phase, they can produce a non-zero depth-mean flow for periods of a few months. These baroclinic currents can interact with the barotropic tidal current and cause an apparent increase (or decrease) in the estimated barotropic tidal-current amplitude. The apparent amplitude of the barotropic tidal current may change by 30 to 80 percent or more in a current record that is less than three months long. The currents and surficial sediments in this region are in dynamic equilibrium in that the spatial patterns in bottom stresses generated by near-bed currents from surface tides, internal tides, and internal bores partly control the spatial patterns in the local sediments. Coarser sediments are found in the regions with enhanced bottom stresses (that is, over the inner shelf and in the region between the Palos Verdes and San Pedro shelves). Finer sediments are found over the northwestern portion of the Palos Verdes shelf, where near-bottom currents are relatively weak. The nonlinear asymmetries in the internal tidal-period current oscillations cause a net transport of suspended material along and off the shelf, reinforcing the mean flow patterns that also carry sediment either into Santa Monica Bay or offshore and onto the adjacent slope. Posted: 2009-05-28
National Seafloor Mapping and Characterization Images of the sea floor off the coasts of California, Hawaii, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, and Washington; images of lake floor of Lake Michigan, Crater Lake, Lake Tahoe. Backscatter and swath bathymetry, regular and in 3-D view. Posted: 2009-05-11
Coastal Change Along the Shore of Northeastern South Carolina: The South Carolina Coastal Erosion Study The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, conducted a 7-year, multi-disciplinary study of coastal erosion in northeastern South Carolina. The main objective was to understand the geologic and oceanographic processes that control sediment movement along the region's shoreline and thereby improve projections of coastal change. The study used high-resolution remote sensing and sampling techniques to define the geologic framework and assess historic shoreline change. Based on these findings, oceanographic-process studies and numerical modeling were carried out to determine the rates and directions of sediment transport along South Carolina's Grand Strand. Posted: 2009-05-01
Coastal Change Hazards: Hurricanes and Extreme Storms This project investigates the coastal impacts of hurricanes and extreme storms, such as Hurricanes Isabel (2003), Dennis (1999), Bonnie & Georges (1998), and winter storms, such as those associated with the 1997-98 El Niño. Posted: 2009-04-28
Hurricane Ike: Observations and Analysis of Coastal Change Understanding storm-induced coastal change and forecasting these changes require knowledge of the physical processes associated with the storm and the geomorphology of the impacted coastline. The primary physical processes of interest are the wind field, storm surge, and wave climate. Not only does wind cause direct damage to structures along the coast, but it is ultimately responsible for much of the energy that is transferred to the ocean and expressed as storm surge, mean currents, and large waves. Waves and currents are the processes most responsible for moving sediments in the coastal zone during extreme storm events. Storm surge, the rise in water level due to the wind, barometric pressure, and other factors, allows both waves and currents to attack parts of the coast not normally exposed to those processes. Posted: 2009-04-07
Open-File Report 2009-1029: Coastal processes study of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, California By Patrick L. Barnard, David L. Revell, Dan Hoover, Jon Warrick, John Brocatus, Amy E. Draut, Pete Dartnell, Edwin Elias, Neomi Mustain, Pat E. Hart, and Holly F. Ryan. The Santa Barbara littoral cell (SBLC) is a complex coastal system with significant management challenges. The coastline ranges broadly in exposure to wave energy, fluvial inputs, hard structures, and urbanization. Geologic influence (structural control) on coastline orientation exerts an important control on local beach behavior, with anthropogenic alterations and the episodic nature of sediment supply and transport also playing important roles. Posted: 2009-03-27
Archive of Digital Boomer Seismic Reflection Data Collected During USGS Field Activity 08LCA01 in 10 Central Florida Lakes, March 2008 In March of 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey and St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) conducted geophysical surveys in Lakes Avalon, Big, Colby, Helen, Johns, Prevatt, Searcy, Saunders, Three Island, and Trout, located in central Florida, as part of the USGS Lakes and Coastal Aquifers (LCA) study. This report serves as an archive of unprocessed digital boomer seismic reflection data, trackline maps, navigation files, Field Activity Collection System (FACS) logs, Geographic Information System (GIS) files, and formal Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata. Filtered and gained (a relative increase in signal amplitude) digital images of the seismic profiles are also provided. Refer to the Acronyms page for expansions of acronyms and abbreviations used in this report. Posted: 2009-03-26
Archive of Digital Boomer and CHIRP Seismic Reflection Data Collected During USGS Field Activity 08LCA03 in Lake Panasoffkee, Florida, May 2008 In May of 2008, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducted geophysical surveys in Lake Panasoffkee, located in central Florida, as part of the USGS Lakes and Coastal Aquifers (LCA) study. This report serves as an archive of unprocessed digital boomer and Compressed High Intensity Radar Pulse (CHIRP)* seismic reflection data, trackline maps, navigation files, Field Activity Collection System (FACS) logs, Geographic Information System (GIS) files, and formal Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) metadata. Filtered and gained (a relative increase in signal amplitude) digital images of the seismic profiles and geospatially corrected interactive profiles are also provided. Refer to the Acronyms page for expansions of acronyms and abbreviations used in this report. Posted: 2009-03-26
EAARL Coastal Topography–Northeast Barrier Islands 2007: Bare Earth This DVD contains Lidar-derived bare earth (BE) topography GIS datasets of a portion of the northeast coastal barrier islands in New York and New Jersey. These datasets were acquired April 29-30 and May 15-16, 2007. Posted: 2009-03-01
EAARL Coastal Topography - Northeast Barrier Islands 2007: First Surface This DVD contains Lidar-derived first surface (FS) topography GIS datasets of a portion of the northeast coastal barrier islands in New York and New Jersey. These datasets were acquired April 29-30 and May 15-16, 2007. Posted: 2009-03-01
Open-File Report 2008-1191: Geologic Resource Evaluation of Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park, Hawai‘i; Geology and Coastal Landforms Geologic resource inventories of lands managed by the National Park Service (NPS) are important products for the parks and are designed to provide scientific information to better manage park resources. Park-specific geologic reports are used to identify geologic features and processes that are relevant to park ecosystems, evaluate the impact of human activities on geologic features and processes, identify geologic research and monitoring needs, and enhance opportunities for education and interpretation. These geologic reports are planned to provide a brief geologic history of the park and address specific geologic issues that link the park geology and the resource manager... Posted: 2009-02-19
Open-File Report 2008-1192: Geologic Resource Evaluation of Pu‘uhonua O Hōnaunau National Historical Park, Hawai‘i; Part I, Geology and Coastal Landforms Geologic resource inventories of lands managed by the National Park Service (NPS) are important products for the parks and are designed to provide scientific information to better manage park resources. Park-specific geologic reports are used to identify geologic features and processes that are relevant to park ecosystems, evaluate the impact of human activities on geologic features and processes, identify geologic research and monitoring needs, and enhance opportunities for education and interpretation. These geologic reports are planned to provide a brief geologic history of the park and address specific geologic issues forming a link between the park geology and the resource manager... Posted: 2009-02-17
EAARL Topography-Colonial National Historical Park These Lidar-derived topography maps were produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC) St. Petersburg, the National Park Service (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring Program, Northeast Coastal and Barrier Network, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Wallops Flight Facility. One objective of this research is to create techniques to survey coral reefs, barrier islands, and various nearshore coastal environments for the purposes of geomorphic change studies, habitat mapping, ecological monitoring, change detection, and event assessment. As part of this project, data from an innovative instrument under development at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the NASA Experimental Airborne Advanced Research Lidar (EAARL) are being used. This sensor has the potential to make significant contributions in this realm for measuring subaerial and submarine topography wthin cross-environment surveys. High spectral resolution, water-column correction, and low costs were found to be key factors in providing accurate and affordable imagery to coastal resource managers. Posted: 2009-01-01
EAARL Submerged Topography–U.S. Virgin Islands 2003 This DVD contains Lidar-derived submerged topography GIS datasets of a portion of the U.S. Virgin Islands. These datasets were acquired on April 21, 23, and 30, May 2, and June 14 and 17, 2003. Posted: 2008-12-01
EAARL Topography - Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve 2006 This DVD contains Lidar-derived first surface (FS) and bare earth (BE) topography GIS datasets of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve in Louisiana. These datasets were acquired on September 22, 2006. Posted: 2008-12-01
EAARL Topography - Natchez Trace Parkway 2007: First Surface This DVD contains Lidar-derived first surface (FS) topography GIS datasets of a portion of the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississipi. These datasets were acquired on September 14, 2007. Posted: 2008-12-01
EAARL Coastal Topography–Fire Island National Seashore 2007 This DVD contains Lidar-derived first surface (FS) and bare earth (BE) topography GIS datasets of Fire Island National Seashore in New York. These datasets were acquired on April 29-30 and May 15-16, 2007. Posted: 2008-12-01
EAARL Coastal Topography–Sandy Hook 2007 This DVD contains Lidar-derived bare earth (BE) and first surface (FS) topography GIS datasets of the Gateway National Recreation Area's Sandy Hook Unit in New Jersey. These datasets were acquired on May 16, 2007. Posted: 2008-12-01
Scientific Investigations Report 2007-5101: The Coral Reef of South Moloka‘i, Hawai‘i—Portrait of a Sediment-Threatened Fringing Reef In this landmark volume, U.S. Geological Survey researchers and their colleagues have developed and applied a remarkably integrated approach to the reefs of Moloka‘i, combining geology, oceanography, and biology to provide an in-depth understanding of the processes that have made these reefs grow and that now limit them. They have joined old fashioned natural history of marine animals and plants with study of the geological evolution of the island, hydrology, meteorology, and land-use history, to an arsenal of new methods of remote sensing, including aerial photography, laser ranging, infrared thermal mapping, seismic reflection, in-situ instrumentation to measure chemical parameters of water quality, and direct measurements of the physical driving forces affecting them—such as wave energy, currents, sedimentation, and sediment transport. They provide a level of documentation and insight that has never been available for any reef before. Posted: 2008-11-19
EAARL Topography - Thomas Stone National Historic Site This Web site contains Lidar-derived topography (first return and bare earth) maps and GIS files for Thomas Stone National Historic Site in Maryland. Posted: 2008-11-01
WCMG Coastal Processes Studies California's beaches and nearshore regions are valuable economic and recreational resources but also provide habitats for numerous sensitive species. During winter storms, the coast represents a potentially dangerous interface between ocean and land, nature and humans. Storms produce high waves, strong currents, and elevated sea level that can rapidly erode beaches and inundate low-lying coastal regions, damaging and/or destroying public and private infrastructure as well as stressing coastal ecosystems. Over longer-time scales (e.g. decadal), persistent erosion exacerbated by the pressures of coastal development, reduction in sediment availability and climate change, can result in severely depleted beaches. The USGS performs research along the California coast to understand the physical processes that control coastal change on time scales from individual storms to decades to support the efforts of local, state and government agencies to make informed coastal management decisions to most effectively preserve and protect this valuable resource. Posted: 2008-09-23
Archive of Boomer Seismic Reflection Data - U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 01-165 This Open-File Report serves as an archive of field seismic data, associated navigation files, trackline map, scanned logbooks, and formal metadata, for boomer data collected on USGS Cruise 99ASR01. These data were recorded aboard the R/V G. K. Gilbert in Lake Okeechobee, Fla., on 29 June - 30 June, 1999. Posted: 2008-08-28
Decision Support for Coastal Science and Management The Decision Support for Coastal Science and Management project, sponsored by the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program (CMGP) is supporting the creation of new capabilities for the synoptic remote sensing of coastal-marine and terrestrial environments based on aircraft and satellite sensors. These coastal remote-sensing, mapping, and point-monitoring tools constitute a unique integrated package of instrumentation and software that may be deployed in support of appropriately timed and scaled zoning decisions by management authorities in order to conserve and sensibly exploit nearshore coastal and marine ecosystems. Posted: 2008-07-15
Derivation of Ground Surface and Vegetation in a Coastal Florida Wetland with Airborne Laser Technology The geomorphology and vegetation of marsh-dominated coastal lowlands were mapped from airborne laser data points collected on the Gulf Coast of Florida near Cedar Key. Surface models were developed using low- and high-point filters to separate ground-surface and vegetation-canopy intercepts. In a non-automated process, the landscape was partitioned into functional landscape units to manage the modeling of key landscape features in discrete processing steps. The final digital ground surface-elevation model offers a faithful representation of topographic relief beneath canopies of tidal marsh and coastal forest. Bare-earth models approximate field-surveyed heights by + 0.17 m in the open marsh and + 0.22 m under thick marsh or forest canopy. The laser-derived digital surface models effectively delineate surface features of relatively inaccessible coastal habitats with a geographic coverage and vertical detail previously unavailable. Posted: 2008-06-01
EAARL Topography-Padre Island National Seashore This Web site contains 116 Lidar-derived bare earth topography maps and GIS files for Padre Island National Seashore-Texas. Posted: 2008-04-01
EAARL Topography—Cape Cod National Seashore This Web site contains 90 Lidar-derived bare earth topography maps and GIS files for the Cape Cod National Seashore. Posted: 2008-04-01
USGS-NPS-NASA EAARL Topography - Dry Tortugas National Park This lidar-derived submarine topography map was produced as a collaborative effort between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program, National Park Service (NPS) South Florida/Caribbean Network Inventory and Monitoring Program, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Wallops Flight Facility. One objective of this research is to create techniques to survey coral reefs for the purposes of habitat mapping, ecological monitoring, change detection, and event assessment (for example: bleaching, hurricanes, disease outbreaks). Posted: 2008-03-24
Open-File Report 2006-1288: Circulation and Physical Processes within the San Gabriel River Estuary During Summer 2005 For nearly a decade, dredged material from San Francisco Bay has been deposited at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region IX designated disposal site on the continental slope west of the Farallon Islands. Over the past several years, annual disposal volumes have ranged from 136,170 m3 (61 barge loads) to 2,407,600 m3 (1,173 barge loads) (Ota, personal communication, 2000). The EPA has conducted extensive studies to evaluate the fate and effects of the disposed material (Abdelrhman, 1992; Tetra-Tech, 1992; SAIC, 1992). The EPA has also maintained a long-term monitoring program to collect hydrodynamic, sedimentary, chemical, and biological data that are used to determine whether the dredged material adversely affects the ecology of adjacent water bodies and whether it moves from the disposal site, especially into the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. As part of this monitoring program, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program (CMGP) deployed arrays of instruments on three moorings near the EPA disposal site from November 1997 to November 1998. This report describes the results and findings of this field monitoring experiment. Posted: 2008-01-11
USGS Monterey Bay Science USGS Monterey Bay Science - USGS research in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary and coastal watersheds of central California Posted: 2008-01-01
USGS Coastal Change Hazards USGS Coastal Change Hazards - Focuses on hurricanes, tsunamis, sea-level rise, shoreline erosion, wetland destruction, and other issues relevant to coastal zone management and disaster preparedness. Posted: 2008-01-01
Science and the Storms: the USGS Response to the Hurricanes of 2005 This report is designed to give a view of the immediate response of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to four major hurricanes of 2005: Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. Some of this response took place days after the hurricanes; other responses included fieldwork and analysis through the spring. While hurricane science continues within the USGS, this overview of work following these hurricanes reveals how a Department of the Interior bureau quickly brought together a diverse array of its scientists and technologies to assess and analyze many hurricane effects. Topics vary from flooding and water quality to landscape and ecosystem impacts, from geotechnical reconnaissance to analyzing the collapse of bridges and estimating the volume of debris. Thus, the purpose of this report is to inform the American people of the USGS science that is available and ongoing in regard to hurricanes. It is the hope that such science will help inform the decisions of those citizens and officials tasked with coastal restoration and planning for future hurricanes. Posted: 2008-01-01
Coastal and Marine Knowledge Bank An initiative to develop and present a national-scale, interdisciplinary scientific framework for marine environments, the coastal zone, and coastal watersheds Posted: 2007-11-28
Fact Sheet 2006-3111: Land-Based Lidar Mapping--a New Surveying Technique to Shed Light on Rapid Topographic Change The rate of natural change in such dynamic environments as rivers and coastlines can sometimes overwhelm the monitoring capacity of conventional surveying methods. In response to this limitation, USGS scientists are pioneering new applications of light detection and ranging (lidar), a laser-based scanning technology that promises to greatly increase our ability to track rapid topographic changes and manage their impact on affected communities. Posted: 2007-10-12
El Niño Home Page El Niño information with links to a broad range of topics such as Floods, Landslides, Coastal Hazards, Climate, News Releases. Posted: 2007-09-30
National Assessment of Shoreline Change Project Beach erosion is a chronic problem along most open-ocean shores of the United States. As coastal populations continue to grow, and community infrastructures are threatened by erosion, there is increased demand for accurate information regarding past and present shoreline changes. There is also need for a comprehensive analysis of shoreline movement that is regionally consistent. To meet these national needs, the Coastal and Marine Geology Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is conducting an analysis of historical shoreline changes along open-ocean sandy shores of the conterminous United States and parts of Alaska and Hawaii. A primary goal of this work is to develop standardized methods for mapping and analyzing shoreline movement so that internally consistent updates can periodically be made to record shoreline erosion and accretion. Posted: 2007-09-29
National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards The National Assessment of Coastal Change Hazards is a multi-year undertaking to identify and quantify the vulnerability of U.S. shorelines to coastal change hazards such as the effects of severe storms, sea-level rise, and shoreline erosion and retreat. It will continue to improve our understanding of processes that control these hazards, and will allow researchers to determine the probability of coastal change locally, regionally, and nationally. The Assessment will deliver these data and assessment findings about coastal vulnerability to coastal managers, other researchers, and the general public. Posted: 2007-09-28
Open-File Report 2005-1070: Moloka'i Benthic Habitat Mapping In order to provide evidence of change in any ecosystem, one must first have a starting point, or "baseline" inventory of resources. Thematic maps providing this baseline inventory are an important tool in assessing change in coral reef ecosystems, allowing scientists to spatially document the location of corals, percentage of coral cover, and relative overall health of the system. In the last decade, scientists and managers have recognized the lack of thematic maps for coral reefs worldwide. In 1998, the President of the U.S. issued Executive Order 13089 establishing the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force (CRTF). Comprised of several Federal agencies, including the U.S. Geological Survey, the primary duty of the CRTF is mapping and monitoring of coral reefs in the U.S. and U.S. Trust Territories. U.S. Geological Survey Open File Report 2005-1070 Version 1.0 Moloka'i Benthic Habitat Mapping By Susan A. Cochran-Marquez USGS Pacific Science Center Santa Cruz, CA Introduction In order to provide evidence of change in any ecosystem, one must first have a starting point, or "baseline" inventory of resources. Thematic maps providing this baseline inventory are an important tool in assessing change in coral reef ecosystems, allowing scientists to spatially document the location of corals, percentage of coral cover, and relative overall health of the system. In the last decade, scientists and managers have recognized the lack of thematic maps for coral reefs worldwide. In 1998, the President of the U.S. issued Executive Order 13089 establishing the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force (CRTF). Comprised of several Federal agencies, including the U.S. Geological Survey, the primary duty of the CRTF is mapping and monitoring of coral reefs in the U.S. and U.S. Trust Territories. Moloka'i is one of the main eight Hawaiian Islands (Figure 1). The south shore of Moloka'i is home to the most continuous fringing coral reef in U.S. waters... Posted: 2007-07-05
Florida Shelf Habitat (FLaSH) Map Project The FLaSH Map project is a multiagency approach to benthic habitat mapping. Existing data is presented via user-friendly graphic, geographic, and visualization tools. Data from multibeam, sidescan sonar imagery, still and video images, streaming resistivity, and sediment grabs are available for viewing by the general public, scientists and managers. Posted: 2007-06-18
Gulf of Mexico and Southeast Tidal Wetlands This project is investigating the loss of coastal wetlands and adjacent uplands in order to determine long-term change in wetlands and to provide a model for determining areas that are most vulnerable to loss because of combinations of human and natural impacts. Posted: 2007-06-01
USGS Circular 1198 - Beyond the Golden Gate - Oceanography, Geology, Biology, and Environmental Issues in the Gulf of the Farallones The USGS began a major geologic and oceanographic study of the Gulf of the Farallones in 1989. This investigation, the first of several now being conducted adjacent to major population centers by the USGS, was undertaken to establish a scientific data base for an area of 3,400 square kilometers (1,000 square nautical miles) on the Continental Shelf adjacent to the San Francisco Bay region. The results of this study can be used to evaluate and monitor human impact on the marine environment. Posted: 2006-11-17
Maps Showing the Stratigraphic Framework of South Carolina's Long Bay from Little River to Winyah Bay South Carolina's Grand Strand is a heavily populated coastal region that supports a large tourism industry. Like most heavily developed coastal communities, the potential for property damage and lost revenues associated with coastal erosion and vulnerability to severe storms is of great concern. In response to these concerns, the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium have chosen to focus upon the Grand Strand and immediately adjacent Long Bay as a portion of Phase II of the South Carolina/Georgia Coastal Erosion Study (SC/GCES). Posted: 2006-10-20
U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Investigations Series Map I-2600-D Changes in the area and volume of polar ice sheets are intricately linked to changes in global climate, and the resulting changes in sea level may severely impact the densely populated coastal regions on Earth. Melting of the West Antarctic part alone of the Antarctic ice sheet could cause a sea-level rise of approximately 6 meters (m). The potential sea-level rise after melting of the entire Antarctic ice sheet is estimated to be 65 m (Lythe and others, 2001) to 73 m (Williams and Hall, 1993). In spite of its importance, the mass balance (the net volumetric gain or loss) of the Antarctic ice sheet is poorly known; it is not known for certain whether the ice sheet is growing or shrinking. In a review paper, Rignot and Thomas (2002) concluded that the West Antarctic part of the Antarctic ice sheet is probably becoming thinner overall; although it is thickening in the west, it is thinning in the north. Joughin and Tulaczyk (2002), on the basis of analysis of ice-flow velocities derived from synthetic aperture radar, concluded that most of the Ross ice streams (ice streams on the east side of the Ross Ice Shelf) have a positive mass balance, whereas Rignot and others (in press) infer even larger negative mass balance for glaciers flowing northward into the Amundsen Sea, a trend suggested by Swithinbank and others (2003a,b, 2004). The mass balance of the East Antarctic part of the Antarctic ice sheet is unknown, but thought to be in near equilibrium." Posted: 2002-04-05
Hawaiian Islands GLORIA Imagery GLORIA sidescan sonar imagery of the Hawaiian Islands, showing index map and downloadable quadrangles of sea-floor imagery. Posted: 2002-04-03
Online Mini-Documentary Movie - The Effects of Globally Transported African and Asian Dust on Coral Reef and Human Health "The Effects of Globally Transported African and Asian Dust on Coral Reef and Human Health" is an eight minute mini-documentary featuring biologist Ginger Garrison, geologist Gene Shinn, chemist Chuck Holmes, and microbiologist Dale Griffin as they explain the deterioration of Caribbean coral health over the past several decades, and how unlocking the key role of trans-Atlantic dust transport has opened the door to understanding the effects and implications of this global phenomenon. Narrated by geologist Terry Edgar. Posted: 2001-11-08
West-Central Florida Coastal Studies This project is a study of the west central Florida coast, conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, University of South Florida, and Eckerd College. The study investigates the formation and maintanance of the barrier island system, as well as the geologic framework of the region. Posted: 2001-10-31
Remote Sensing Applications to Coral Reef Environments The main goal of this project is to investigate and analyze remotely sensed image data to determine their applicability for detecting and mapping the location of live and dead reef areas, density of coral cover, and the major type of coral present, as well as algae, silt/mud, and carbonate sand cover. Posted: 2001-09-04
USGS TerraWeb for Kids! Satellite and sonar images, remote sensing education, and activities just for KIDS! Posted: 2001-08-01
Mapping Coastal Change Hazards An illustrated discussion of coastal change hazards and the work that the U.S. Geological Survey is doing to map and understand these hazards. Posted: 2001-05-03
Global Inventory of Natural Gas Hydrate Occurance This updated global inventory reports on natural gas hydrate recovered from 20 places worldwide and includes 79 places where the presence of gas hydrate has been inferred from geophysical, geochemical, or geological evidence. Posted: 2001-01-09
Great Lakes Mapping Project Initiative to map lake bathymetry and classify lakebed materials to advance knowledge of Great Lakes and enable better management of Great Lakes resources. Posted: 2000-12-12
Education and Outreach Information Helpful information about Activities at the USGS Western Region Coastal and Marine Geology Team. Posted: 2000-11-20
An Uunmanned Coastal Ocean Observatory System USGS and other agencies are developing a low-cost system for retrieving oceanographic data from instruments in the coastal ocean and delivering these data over the World Wide Web. The conceptual approach is to use a new kind of low-cost, low-power acoustic transmitters which transmit data from a sensor located on a mooring line or on the bottom in the vicinity of a surface buoy. A relay system on the surface buoy, consisting of an acoustic modem integrated directly with a reliable, medium-bandwidth telemetry link, receives the data from the underwater sensor and sends it directly to shore. The system will be demonstrated by transmitting Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) data from two long-term monitoring sites in Massachusetts Bay. Posted: 2000-10-30
Remote Video Monitoring Remote Video Monitoring (RVM) systems provide a means of automatically acquiring video data from remote locations and returning them to a central laboratory computer for processing. This project makes use of RVM technology to monitor coastal change at locations in Florida, Massachusetts, Ohio, and Washington. Posted: 2000-10-02
Sea-level Rise and Coastal Forests on the Gulf of Mexico - Open File Report 99-441 Sea-level Rise and Coastal Forests on the Gulf of Mexico is a 127-page report discussing the effects of sea-level rise and storm impacts on coastal forests of the Gulf of Mexico. Separate chapters are devoted to non-mangrove and mangrove forests. Information on the responses of individual tree species to increased salinity and flooding is included. Posted: 2000-08-10
San Francisco Bay Earthquake Hazards Project Earthquake Hazard Studies in the San Francisco Bay area, including monitoring of faults through seismic imaging and other geophysical studies. Posted: 2000-07-25
Gulf of the Farallones Waste-Disposal Issues Studies about disposal of radioactive waste and dredged material in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, offshore of San Francisco, California Posted: 2000-07-19
Sediment-Transport Workshop Report Report of the Community Sediment Transport Modeling Workshop, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, U. S. A. on 22-23 June, 2000 Posted: 2000-06-23
Geologic Framework and Processes of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Lake Pontchartrain and adjacent lakes form one of the largest and most important estuaries in the Gulf Coast Region. The estuary drains the Pontchartrain Basin, an area of over 12,000 square kilometers situated on the eastern side of the Mississippi River delta plain. In Louisiana, nearly one-third of the state population lives within the 14 parishes of the Pontchartrain Basin. Posted: 2000-03-15
Hurricane Dennis Impact Studies Includes pre/post-storm topographic change data derived from lidar mapping of the coast, as well as a set of oblique aerial photography of affected barrier islands on the North Carolina coast. Posted: 2000-03-02
East Gulf of Mexico Satellite Imagery Satellite imagery of the eastern Gulf of Mexico, measuring sea surface temperature, reflectance, and altimetry, is taken, processed, and posted in online archives several times per day. Posted: 2000-01-27
Florida Bay Satellite Imagery Satellite imagery of Florida Bay, measuring sea surface temperature and reflectance, is taken, processed, and posted in online archives several times per day. Posted: 2000-01-27
El Niño/La Niña Coastal Comparison Photography - Oregon La-Niña Mapping, May, 1999 - A Follow-on Experiment to the El-Niño Coastal Mapping, October 1997 / April 1998. These pages include pre/post-El-Niño rainfall data from the Laurel Mountain Monitoring Station, as well as a set of oblique aerial photography of portions of the Oregon coast. Posted: 1999-12-08
Seabed Observation and Sampling System (SEABOSS) The USGS Coastal and Marine Geology program at the Woods Hole Field Center (Woods Hole, Massachusetts) has developed a Seabed Observation and Sampling System (SEABOSS) that incorporates two video cameras, a still camera, a pressure-depth sensor, and a modified Van Veen sediment grab sampler so that sediment samples and their local seafloor enviroment can be studied in relation to one another. Posted: 1999-11-30
Gas Hydrates in the Gulf of Mexico Investigation of potential gas-hydrate deposits and possible links between hydrate occurrence and sea-floor failures using remote-sensing technology. Posted: 1999-09-22
National Coastal Assessment The coastal margin of the US is among the most densely populated, developed, property valued, tax generating, income generating, and recreational valued region of the US. The dynamic natural processes and human-induced changes within this margin are poorly understood yet result in a highly mobile coastal zone that is subject to rapid (decadal or less) change. The goal of this project is to develop a GIS based inventory of scientific data including those variables known to contribute to coastal change. Posted: 1999-05-14
About Gas Hydrates and a USGS gas hydrate project Questions and answers about submarine gas hydrates: an ice-like crystalline solid formed of water and gas that is found in places under the sea floor and has important implications to techniques of deep-sea drilling and future energy supplies. Posted: 1999-03-08
Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary Studies The USGS Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Project gathers, interprets, and distributes geologic information - tools necessary for sound resource protection and preservation of the federally established Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. This web site provides access to that information. Posted: 1999-02-22
Sea-floor Morphology between Año Nuevo and Santa Cruz, California Seafloor map displaying submarine rock exposures found along the northern part of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, with interpretations of side-scan sonar records, seismic-reflection records, and underwater video. Posted: 1999-02-22
Hydrocarbons in Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary Description and interpretation of hydrocarbons associated with fluid venting processes in Monterey Bay, California. Posted: 1999-02-17
Coastal-Change and Glaciological Maps of Antarctica Changes in the area and volume of the two polar ice sheets in Antarctica (fig. 1) and Greenland are intricately linked to changes in global climate and could result in sea-level changes that would severely affect the densely populated coastal regions on Earth. Melting of the West Antarctica part of the Antarctic ice sheet alone could cause a worldwide sea-level rise of approximately 8 m. The use of a number of different sensor data sets allow determination of coastal change in Antarctica over 15-20 years for the MSS and TM images and over as much as 32 years where Argon and ERS images exist, such as the Antarctic Peninsula. Cooperation with other Antarctic mapping groups now includes scientists from Italy, Russia, Norway, Canada, Australia, Argentina, and Germany. Posted: 1999-02-08
Massachusetts Bay Seafloor: Mapping Sedimentary Environments The modern seafloor sedimentary environments within the glaciated, topographically complex Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay area have been interpreted and mapped from an extensive collection of sidescan sonar records and supplemental marine geologic data. These data outline three categories of sedimentary environments that reflect the predominant long-term processes of erosion, deposition, and sediment reworking. Posted: 1999-01-21
Coastal Erosion from El-Nino Winter Storms - Oblique Aerial Photography USGS acquired baseline precision-located oblique still and video photography coverage of over 1000 km of coastline from the west coast of the U.S. in October, 1997, in anticipation of storms generated by the El-Niño warming of the Pacific Ocean. A follow-up mission was completed in April, 1998 after the storm season. Posted: 1998-12-16
Antarctic Seismic Data Library System (SDLS) The Antarctic Seismic Data Library System provides open access worldwide to Antarctic multichannel seismic-reflection data collected by many countries to study the structure of the earth's crust of Antarctica. Posted: 1998-12-15
Hurricane Bonnie Impact Studies Hurricane Bonnie, a Category 3 storm, made landfall on August 26, 1998 in southern North Carolina near Cape Fear very close to landfall of both Hurricanes Bertha and Fran in 1996. These pages include pre/post-storm topographic change data derived from lidar mapping of the coast, as well as a set of oblique aerial photography of affected barrier islands on the North Carolina coast. Posted: 1998-11-13
USGS TerraWeb: San Fransisco Bay Landsat TM Main Page Using satellite imagery for change detection and mapping in the San Francisco Bay Area. View full resolution Landsat TM satellite image mosaics of the bay area and learn how change mapping is done. Posted: 1998-08-01
Gorda Ridge Hydrothermal System Investigation of distribution, quantity, and composition of hydrothermal deposits along the Gorda Ridge, off the coast of Oregon. Posted: 1998-06-10
Bedform Sedimentology Studies Information about ripples, dunes, and sedimentary structures including, explanatory text, computer-generated images and movies, photographs, and bedform-simulation software. Posted: 1998-05-30
USGS TerraWeb: San Francisco Bay - Multibeam Backscatter Data: Alcatraz Island and West-Central Bay Areas Remote sensing in the Central San Francisco Bay Region, featuring multibeam backscatter and bathymetry mosaics products enhanced with satellite imagery. The image maps featured were created to help study sediment and pollutant transport in Central San Francisco Bay -- visit this page for links to the Sediment and Pollutant Trasport project and related web pages. Posted: 1998-05-20
A Giant Sediment Trap in the Florida Keys Aerial photography, high resolution seismic profiling, coring and jet probing have revealed a large sediment-filled sinkhole in the Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary off Key Largo, Florida. The 600-m-diameter feature straddles coral reef and carbonate-sand facies and contains >55 m of marine lime sand and aragonite mud. Posted: 1998-04-21
Marine Geology of Benthic Biohabitats in Glacier Bay, Alaska A project to characterize the seafloor habitats in Glacier Bay, Alaska, including geomorphic, sedimentologic, and stratigraphic descriptions, based on acoustic imaging and profiling of the fjord floor Posted: 1998-03-26
Hurricane Fran Impact Studies On September 5, 1996, Hurricane Fran, a category 3 hurricane, made landfall on the North Carolina coast at Cape Fear. These pages include overwash data as well as a set of pre/post-storm oblique aerial photography of affected barrier islands on the North Carolina coast. Posted: 1997-12-08
Grand Canyon Colorado River Studies Studies of sediment transport in the Grand Canyon, Arizona - using ocean research techniques to study a river system. Posted: 1997-06-09
USGS TerraWeb: Central California DEM and Bathymetry Image products derived from DEM and bathymetry products. This web page features the San Francisco Bay area, the Monterey Bay area, and the Santa Clara area. Posted: 1996-08-01
Currents and Sediment Movement in Monterey Canyon AGU abstract of currents and sediment movement in Monterey Canyon CA using current meters, transmissometers and sediment traps attached to moorings Posted: 1996-03-26
OFR 95-838: Moored Array Data Report for Monterey Bay, California A study of the mechanisms that govern the circulation within and the transport of sediment and water through Monterey Submarine Canyon using moorings that measured current, temperature, salinity and water clarity Posted: 1996-03-25
USGS TerraWeb: San Francisco Bay Change Detection Information about the contributions of remote sensing to a research program designed to further the understanding of pristine wetlands, water quality and their changes over the past 150 years. Such information is needed by ecosystem managers trying to determine the recent rate of wetlands loss and water quality changes. The main focus of this project is to generate and analyze digital 'change images' that will show, both visually and statistically, how much and where changes have occurred in the San Francisco Bay Ecosystem. The image data will show both wetland changes and water flow/sediment patterns and changes (keeping in mind that the water change information will be specific for the dates being analyzed). Posted: 1995-04-07
USGS TerraWeb Software: MIPS Image Processing System Software distribution and documentation for USGS MIPS open source image processing freeware for UNIX and VMS. The United States Geological Survey's Mini Image Processing system is a fully functional digital image processing software package complete with online documentation. It was developed by the USGS, is in the public domain, and available free of charge. It has the ability to process a variety of remotely sensed data including: Landsat MSS and TM, SPOT, AVHRR, radar, sonar, eigitized aerial photographs, digital elevation models, and geophysical data. Posted: 0000-00-00
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