Coastal Science

Frequently, water withdrawals for public supply are made from the freshwater reaches of rivers and streams across new Jersey. Overall, there is a lack of scientific information describing the movement of saltwater upstream into the tributaries discharging into Delaware Bay. This project is beginning to collect water quality data along three selected tributaries in New Jersey to Delaware Bay in an...

On October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey after several days of impacting the Atlantic coastline. Ten years later the impacted communities have recovered and rebuilt, and the New Jersey Water Science Center has expanded its scientific understanding of storm impacts on our state.

As part of the Urban Water Federal Partnership, the USGS NJWSC and the Delaware River Basin Commission are currently assessing the use of innovative, near real-time bacteria monitoring technology to provide rapid results on bacteria concentrations to water regulators. Traditional methods of collecting and quantifying fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) is labor intensive, expensive, and may be...

Chloride concentrations in groundwater are measured in select wells on a 5-year cycle, as an early warning indicator of saltwater intrusion, and for the definition of the 250 mg/L chloride concentration line within the principal aquifers of the New Jersey Coastal Plain.

The Coastal Plain aquifers of New Jersey provide an important source of water for more than 3.5 million people. The USGS, in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, has been measuring water levels in the confined aquifers of the New Jersey Coastal Plain every five years beginning in 1978. Persistent, regionally extensive cones of depression are present in Ocean and...

The New Jersey Water Science Center provides valuable short-term (120 day) data augmentation to many locations for: Precipitation, Water and Air Temperature, and even Wind speed and direction at some of our coastal sites. Our field technicians continuously make field measurements and maintain these networks to ensure the accuracy of these data.

Following Hurricane Sandy, the USGS began construction of an overland Surge, Wave, and Tide Hydrodynamics (SWaTH) Network along the Northeastern Atlantic Coast from North Carolina to Maine. This network, developed collaboratively with numerous partners, features the integration of long-term tide gage networks, with real-time rapid-deployment gages (RDG) and mobile storm-tide sensors (STS). An...

The accurate, long-term monitoring networks of New Jersey Water Science Center provide valuable data in real-time and historical perspective to compare that data to. The longer a monitoring location is in operation, the more valuable it becomes, since more statistical comparisons can be performed. Our field technicians continuously make field measurements and maintain these networks.

USGS monitors data for estuary and back-bay areas all along the New Jersey coast and links to related projects with more information about coastal flood hazards, water quality, and other topics. The USGS operates the most extensive satellite network of tide-gaging stations in the region, many of which form the backbone of flood-warning systems. The USGS provides current ("real-time") water-level...

The Sandy Hook Unit, Gateway National Recreation Area (hereafter Sandy Hook) in New Jersey is a 10-kilometer-long spit visited by thousands of people each year who take advantage of the historical and natural resources and recreational opportunities.

The 2017 Work Plan for the National Resources Protection Program (NRPP) project on Fire Island, Sandy Hook, and Assateague includes a description of the issues and implications; description of the methods; and summary of the 2017 tasks, including site selection, well and instrumentation installation, and monitoring groundwater levels, temperature, and specific conductance.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and other partners, is conducting an extensive, coordinated study of physical, chemical, and biological processes in the Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor estuary. The study integrates findings of teams from the USGS New Jersey Water Science Center and USGS Coastal and Marine Science...