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Coastal Resilience Project with USGS and Partners Receives Nearly $1 Million in Funds from NOAA

Using USGS CoSMoS to make predictions of storm-induced coastal flooding, erosion in central CA

Learn about the new project

Mass Wasting on the Cascadia Subduction Zone

New Study Catalogues Earthquake Evidence Along CSZ

How USGS Coral Research in Puerto Rico Captured Rare Oceanographic Data from Hurricane Maria

Study featured in Science News article

Deep-Sea Expedition with USGS, NOAA, and BOEM Explores West Coast Wind Sites

Read Stories from the Expedition

Assembling a Seismic History of the southern San Andreas Fault beneath Salton Sea

Read Story

Deep Dive: Biological Communities at Escanaba Trough

Read the Story, Watch the Video

Deep Dive: Seafloor Mapping in Escanaba Trough

Learn how researchers "see" the seafloor, miles below the surface

Read Story

Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

We conduct multidisciplinary scientific research in the coastal and offshore areas of California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, and other US Pacific Islands; and in other waterways of the United States.

Research Projects

Five people, spread out along a beach with rocky and sandy areas, walk parallel to the water's edge carrying gear.

Read about our science projects, find out where we are working, and discover the reasons why our research matters.

Explore Our Science

Science Seminar Series

Small ridges of sand growing downwind of beachgrass clusters as a result of the grass slowing the wind.

Join us for virtual science seminars via Microsoft Teams. Details will be posted here!

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News

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Coastal Resilience Project with USGS, Partners Receives Nearly $1 Million in Funds From NOAA

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Mass Wasting on the Cascadia Subduction Zone

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How USGS Coral Research in Puerto Rico Captured Rare Oceanographic Data from Hurricane Maria

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Publications

Measuring and attributing sedimentary and geomorphic responses to modern climate change: Challenges and opportunities

Today, climate change is affecting virtually all terrestrial and nearshore settings. This commentary discusses the challenges of measuring climate-driven physical landscape responses to modern global warming: short and incomplete data records, land use and seismicity masking climatic effects, biases in data availability and resolution, and signal attenuation in sedimentary systems. We identify opp
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Ecosystems, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Southwest Biological Science Center

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in passive samplers at seven coastal sites off West Maui, Hawaiʻi:

Passive membrane samplers—semipermeable membrane devices and polar organic chemical integrative samplers—were deployed for 22 continuous days at 7 sites along the West Maui, Hawaiʻi, coastline in February and March 2017 to assess organic contaminants at shallow coral reef ecosystems from diverse upstream inputs. The distribution of organic compounds observed at these coastal sites showed considera
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Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Categorizing active marine acoustic sources based on their potential to affect marine animals

Marine acoustic sources are widely used for geophysical imaging, oceanographic sensing, and communicating with and tracking objects or robotic vehicles in the water column. Under the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act and similar regulations in several other countries, the impact of controlled acoustic sources is assessed based on whether the sound levels received by marine mammals meet the criteri
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Science

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Image: USCGC Healy in Heavy Ice Passing CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent

Delineating the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf

The United States has an interest in knowing the full extent of its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from shore (called the extended continental shelf, or ECS) so that it can better protect, manage and use the resources of the seabed and subsoil contained therein. The USGS contributes to the ECS effort through membership and leadership on the interagency U.S. ECS Task Force, a group...
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Delineating the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf

The United States has an interest in knowing the full extent of its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from shore (called the extended continental shelf, or ECS) so that it can better protect, manage and use the resources of the seabed and subsoil contained therein. The USGS contributes to the ECS effort through membership and leadership on the interagency U.S. ECS Task Force, a group...
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Photograph of four airgun arrays towed behind R/V Marcus G. Langseth.

USGS Law of the Sea

The USGS Law of the Sea project helps to determine the outer limits of the extended continental shelf (ECS) of the United States. The ECS is that portion of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. It is an important maritime zone that holds many resources and vital habitats for marine life. Its size may exceed one million square kilometers, encompassing areas in the Arctic, Atlantic...
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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USGS Law of the Sea

The USGS Law of the Sea project helps to determine the outer limits of the extended continental shelf (ECS) of the United States. The ECS is that portion of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. It is an important maritime zone that holds many resources and vital habitats for marine life. Its size may exceed one million square kilometers, encompassing areas in the Arctic, Atlantic...
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View of beach from roof top, edge of roof in foreground, pier extending from beach out over water in center, park in background.

Remote Sensing Coastal Change

We use remote-sensing technologies—such as aerial photography, satellite imagery, structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry, and lidar (laser-based surveying)—to measure coastal change along U.S. shorelines.
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Remote Sensing Coastal Change

We use remote-sensing technologies—such as aerial photography, satellite imagery, structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry, and lidar (laser-based surveying)—to measure coastal change along U.S. shorelines.
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