Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

USGS scientists visited more than 10 coastal and offshore locations studying California wildfire contaminated river sediments, the offshore part of the Montecito debris flow, seafloor mining sediment plumes, and much more. We also had several expeditions cancelled by severe storms in the Northeast. Here’s a quick overview of some fieldwork by our researchers.

Map of North America with dots along coastal areas to show where we have completed field work in March 2018.
Approximate locations of some recent USGS coastal and offshore fieldwork in February and March of 2018. Dark blue areas outline the US Exclusive Economic Zone; purple areas show US Great Lakes waters.

Napa and Sonoma, California: Measure sediment composition and contaminants from wildfire-burned areas in the Sonoma Creek and Napa River watersheds, March 17. Details: https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2018-623-FA

Florida Keys: Serviced and retrieved current meters and sediment instruments previously installed on Crocker Reef, March 12–16. Details: https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2018-301-FA

Pacific coast of Panama: Monitored coral abundance, calcification, and bioerosion in the Gulf of Chiriqui and Gulf of Panama, February 26 to March 15. Details: https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2018-303-FA

Florida Keys: Multibeam bathymetry survey on Crocker Reef, March 8–15. Details: https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2018-313-FA

San Francisco, California: Monitored changes in Ocean Beach sand volume and distribution, March 13. Details: https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2018-621-FA

Cape Cod, Massachusetts: Used drones to collect high-resolution images and maps of Sage Lot Pond, March 9. Details: https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2018-004-FA

Madeira Beach, Florida: Used drones to collect air photos to evaluate structure-from-motion technique for coastal topography, March 9. Details: https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2018-315-FA

Monterey Bay, California: Collected nearshore bathymetry and beach topography, February 26 to March 2. Details: https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2018-615-FA

Offshore Montecito, California: Mapped the offshore extent of the 2018 debris flows, February 26 to March 1. Details: https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2018-610-FA

Offshore San Diego, California: Water sampled to measure the sediment plume created by mining manganese nodules, February 26 to March 1. Details: https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2018-614-FA

Madeira Beach, Florida: Measured offshore waves, currents, and water depth, February 28. Details: https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2018-314-FA

Plum Island, Massachusetts: Used drones to collect high-resolution images and maps for marsh stability modeling, February 25–26. Details: https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/fan_info.php?fan=2018-015-FA

Get Our News

These items are in the RSS feed format (Really Simple Syndication) based on categories such as topics, locations, and more. You can install and RSS reader browser extension, software, or use a third-party service to receive immediate news updates depending on the feed that you have added. If you click the feed links below, they may look strange because they are simply XML code. An RSS reader can easily read this code and push out a notification to you when something new is posted to our site.