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PCMSC MarFac Field Equipment and Capabilities Active

By Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center June 10, 2022

Learn about the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center Marine Facility’s vast array of field equipment, sampling devices, and mapping systems, and our capabilities. Our engineers, designers, mechanics, and technicians have also designed and developed some of the specialized field equipment we use in field operations in the nearshore, in the deep sea, and on land.

Vessels

A metal boat sits on a towing trailer in a parking lot.

Learn about the different types of vessels we use in and around rivers, bays, coastal areas, and the deep ocean.

Our Vessels

Our Team

Three men working on the back of a small boat operating gear and moving equipment.

Meet our team of field specialists at MarFac, who run the gamut from coastal and marine field equipment designers to engineers, boat operators, and mechanics.

Our Team

MarFac

A group of people enter a building at the loading dock, walking up a loading ramp.

Our Marine Facility, or MarFac, is the operational arm of PCMSC. We provide engineering, mechanical, and electronics expertise for field operations.

MarFac

Geophysical Equipment

Photo of equipment sitting on the deck of a boat which is docked, and it's sleeting or snowing.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
University of Washington's research vessel R/V Barnes is loaded with the USGS multichannel seismic system components GeoEel, Chirp, and boom plates.

High-Resolution Multichannel Seismic System

Chirps

Sound Sources

People wearing safety gear standing on a ship and setting up gear.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
The Geospace Navigator bird is a streamer depth control device, used with a high-resolution seismic system to regulate and record the depth of the streamer.

Streamers

Magnetometer

 

Bathymetry

A view of the side of a boat with an instrument attached to a tall, cylindrical pole bolted to it.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
The SWATHplus 234 kHz interferometric bathymetry survey tool

Multibeam

Swath

 

Intertial Measurement Units (IMU)

 

Sediment Sampling

 

Two men deploy scientific equipment mounted on yellow tanks into the bay
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
The SQUID-5, or Structure-from-motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with 5 cameras, being deployed by Mitch Lemon and Gerry Hatcher in Tampa Bay for testing. Developed by USGS scientists and engineers, SQUID-5 is towed behind a boat to capture overlapping high-resolution images of the seafloor with accurate GPS locations which are converted into high-resolution, 3-dimensional models of seafloor structures.

Imaging/Photography

 

SCUBA Diving

MarFac Dive Team

 

A marine technician works on a large metal apparatus on the deck of a ship with cables and a pully.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
Jumbo piston corer
Two women wearing personal protective gear on a boat stand near a mud sampling device and scoop mud from it.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
Smith-McIntyre (“Smith-Mac”) grab sampler
Photo of a floating coring rig with metal A-frame support structure and platforms to accommodate operators at two levels.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
Uwitec piston-coring rig
A man walks on the beach wearing a yellow backpack with an antenna sticking up from it, holding a small machine
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.
USGS oceanographer Dan Hoover uses a GPS-equipped backpack to measure sand elevations near the mouth of the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz, California, January 12, 2017. Surveys like this make long-term studies of coastal change possible.

Learn more about MarFac, the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center Marine Facility.

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A large truck is parked near the wall of a building with a boat on the attached boat trailer.

PCMSC Marine Facility (MarFac)

Learn about the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center Marine Facility, or MarFac
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
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PCMSC Marine Facility (MarFac)

Learn about the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center Marine Facility, or MarFac
Learn More
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Underwater photo of a person in silhouette, wearing a wetsuit and dive gear and floating near some kelp.

MarFac Dive Team

The USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, California, maintains a certified scientific dive team.
By
Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
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MarFac Dive Team

The USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, California, maintains a certified scientific dive team.
Learn More
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Three men working on the back of a small boat operating gear and moving equipment.

PCMSC MarFac Team

Below is the list of our fieldwork specialists at PCMSC's Marine Facility, or MarFac.
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
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PCMSC MarFac Team

Below is the list of our fieldwork specialists at PCMSC's Marine Facility, or MarFac.
Learn More
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Small silver metal boat with USGS lettering on the side, water is splashing up on the side and a small wake is formed.

PCMSC MarFac Vessels

The USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center uses a wide variety of vessels, from kayaks to open-ocean ships, to conduct fieldwork. Most vessels are managed by our Marine Facility, or MarFac.
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
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PCMSC MarFac Vessels

The USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center uses a wide variety of vessels, from kayaks to open-ocean ships, to conduct fieldwork. Most vessels are managed by our Marine Facility, or MarFac.
Learn More
link
Matrix cruise study area

The Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX)

In late August 2018, scientists and technical staff from the USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program completed the acquisition of over 2000 km of multichannel seismic (MCS) data as part of the Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX) conducted aboard the R/V Hugh R. Sharp. The seismic program was led by the USGS Gas Hydrates Project and was sponsored by the USGS, the U.S...
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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The Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX)

In late August 2018, scientists and technical staff from the USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program completed the acquisition of over 2000 km of multichannel seismic (MCS) data as part of the Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX) conducted aboard the R/V Hugh R. Sharp. The seismic program was led by the USGS Gas Hydrates Project and was sponsored by the USGS, the U.S...
Learn More

Below are data or web applications associated with this project.

Overlapping seabed images and location data acquired using the SQUID-5 system at Eastern Dry Rocks coral reef, Florida, in May 2021, with derived point cloud, digital elevation model and orthomosaic of submerged topography

Underwater images were collected using a towed-surface vehicle with multiple downward-looking underwater cameras developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The system is named the Structure-from-Motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with Five Cameras (SQUID-5). The raw images and associated navigation data were collected at Eastern Dry Rocks, a coral reef located within the Flo
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Point clouds, bathymetric maps, and orthoimagery generated from overlapping lakebed images acquired with the SQUID-5 system near Dollar Point, Lake Tahoe, CA, March 2021

Underwater images were collected in Lake Tahoe, CA, using a recently developed towed-surface vehicle with multiple downward-looking underwater cameras. The system is named the Structure-from-Motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with Five Cameras (SQUID-5). The data were collected March 10th and 11th of 2021 to assess the accuracy, precision, and effectiveness of the new SQUID-5 came
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Multichannel Seismic-Reflection and Navigation Data Collected Using Sercel GI Guns and Geometrics GeoEel Digital Streamers During the Mid-Atlantic Resource Imaging Experiment (MATRIX), USGS Field Activity 2018-002-FA

In summer 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey partnered with the U.S Department of Energy and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to conduct the Mid-Atlantic Resources Imaging Experiment (MATRIX) as part of the U.S. Geological Survey Gas Hydrates Project. The field program objectives were to acquire high-resolution 2-dimensional multichannel seismic-reflection and split-beam echosounder data along
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

SQUID-5 structure-from-motion point clouds, bathymetric maps, orthomosaics, and underwater photos of coral reefs in Florida, 2019

The new structure-from-motion (SfM) quantitative underwater imaging device with five cameras (SQUID-5) was tested in July 2019 at Crocker Reef in the Florida Keys. The SQUID-5 was developed to meet the unique challenges of collecting SfM underwater imagery, including multiple cameras with different perspectives, accurate geographic locations of images, accurate and precise scaling of derived surfa
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center

Below are photos of MarFac field equipment.

A man wearing safety gear stands on the fantail of a small boat preparing a box core for deployment.
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A photograph shows a boat sitting at a dock, with tall grasses in the foreground and the setting sun in the distance.
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A man walks on the beach wearing a yellow backpack with an antenna sticking up from it, holding a small machine
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Photo looking up at a man wearing safety gear and cold weather clothing holding a big drill with puffy white clouds in the sky.
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A man guides a data collection instrument, that is strapped to two large pontoons, out into water from the stern of a boat.
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Three men and one woman stand, smiling, on the fantail of a docked boat in a marina, holding an instrument used to collect data.
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Man in foul-weather gear and hard hat sits in a parking lot on all-terrain vehicle equipped with GPS, ocean in background.
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Man sits on a personal watercraft floating idle in the water, wearing safety equipment, watercraft is equipped with gear.
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Sampling Methane Seeps and Plumes on the U.S. Atlantic Margin

USGS scientists and partners completed a research cruise on the research vessel (R/V) Hugh R. Sharp to acquire sediment and water samples, heat-flow...

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Deep-Sea Instrument Tripod Passes Test in Monterey Bay, California—Next Stop is South China Sea

A deepwater tripod system designed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) will be the first of its kind to be deployed on the bottom of the South China...

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The New BOBSled Underwater Camera System Records High-Definition Video of the Seafloor

The Benthic OBservation Sled, or BOBSled, was developed at the Marine Facility of the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz...

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