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Featured Story: Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Eruption

Massive Volcanic Eruption and Tsunami Informs Plan for Future Eruptions, Sea-level Rise

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In Depth: Surprising tsunamis caused by Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai Eruption

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Coral Reefs as National, Natural Infrastructure

USGS Research Geologist Curt Storlazzi explains how healthy coral reefs in places like the Caribbean and Pacific Islands serve as national, natural infrastructure

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Sound Waves Newsletter: Coastal and Marine Research News from Across the USGS

Our latest issue is out! Dive into stories about the ocean and marshes

Dive Into the Newsletter

USGS Leads Research Expedition to Deep-sea Escanaba Trough

Watch short videos about the expedition, and read deep-dive stories about Escanaba Trough hydrothermal systems, marine geology, and critical minerals.

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Take a Deep Dive into USGS Ocean Science

USGS makes a splash with a series of new web pages

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Cross-center USGS team testing seafloor structure-from-motion technology

Scientists, engineers, and staff from Santa Cruz, California meet with scientists in Florida to prepare for specialized fieldwork

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USGS Drifter Found on a Scotland Beach

. . . nearly 40 years after its release in the Arctic Ocean!

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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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Quick Links

News

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In depth: Surprising tsunamis caused by explosive eruption in Tonga

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Two SPCMSC field crews visit Looe Key Reef this week to measure seafloor elevation and bioerosion

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USGS Coral Reef Science Being Represented on an International Stage

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Publications

Element concentrations and grain size of sediment from the Similkameen River above Enloe Dam (Enloe Reservoir) near Oroville, Washington, 2019

In 2019, the U.S. Geological Survey conducted a reconnaissance survey of concentrations of 41 trace elements present in bed sediment in the reservoir on the Similkameen River upstream from Enloe Dam, near Oroville, Washington. The Similkameen River drains a watershed containing highly mineralized geologic deposits with current (2019) and historical mining activity. Results of this survey indicated
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Water Resources, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Washington Water Science Center

Reproducibility and variability of earthquake subsidence estimates from saltmarshes of a Cascadia estuary

We examine fossil foraminiferal assemblages from 20 sediment cores to assess sudden relative sea-level (RSL) changes across three mud-over-peat contacts at three salt marshes in northern Humboldt Bay, California (~44.8°N, -124.2°W). We use a validated foraminiferal-based Bayesian transfer function to evaluate the variability of subsidence stratigraphy at a range of 30-6000 m across an estuary. We
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Ecosystems, Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Alaska Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Crowd-sourced SfM: Best practices for high resolution monitoring of coastal cliffs and bluffs

Structure from motion (SfM) photogrammetry is an increasingly common technique for measuring landscape change over time by deriving 3D point clouds and surface models from overlapping photographs. Traditional change detection approaches require photos that are geotagged with a differential GPS (DGPS) location, which requires expensive equipment that can limit the ability of communities and researc
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Science

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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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View from the sky looking at mouth of river with lots of sediment deposited at a beach.

Sediment Transport in Coastal Environments

Our research goals are to provide the scientific information, knowledge, and tools required to ensure that decisions about land and resource use, management practices, and future development in the coastal zone and adjacent watersheds can be evaluated with a complete understanding of the probable effects on coastal ecosystems and communities, and a full assessment of their vulnerability to natural...
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Sediment Lab Suite and Carbon Analysis Laboratory
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Sediment Transport in Coastal Environments

Our research goals are to provide the scientific information, knowledge, and tools required to ensure that decisions about land and resource use, management practices, and future development in the coastal zone and adjacent watersheds can be evaluated with a complete understanding of the probable effects on coastal ecosystems and communities, and a full assessment of their vulnerability to natural...
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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 identify the submerged extent of the U.S. land territory beyond 200 nautical miles. This land area, called the extended continental shelf (ECS), is an important maritime zone with resources and marine habitats. Its size may exceed one million square kilometers, encompassing areas in the Arctic, Atlantic, Bering Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific west coast. USGS...
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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 identify the submerged extent of the U.S. land territory beyond 200 nautical miles. This land area, called the extended continental shelf (ECS), is an important maritime zone with resources and marine habitats. Its size may exceed one million square kilometers, encompassing areas in the Arctic, Atlantic, Bering Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific west coast. USGS...
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