Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Hydrologic Restoration in Coastal Wetlands Enhances Climate Change Mitigation

Learn more

Mendenhall Postdoctoral Program

Now Accepting Applications

Learn more

Hurricane Florence Numerical Modeling

Explore Geonarrative

Sound Waves Newsletter

Research and News from the USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program

Read Sound Waves

Take a Deep Dive into USGS Ocean Science

USGS makes a splash with a series of new web pages

Learn More

Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

2021 Annual Report

Read report

Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center is one of three centers serving the mission of the USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program—the primary Federal marine geology and physical science research program responsible for the Nation’s entire coastal and marine landscape. 

Research

Photograph of USGS staff collecting data in a marsh

Read about our science projects, find out where we are working and why it matters

Explore science

News

August 2018 "Honorable Mention" category Sara Ernst

Recent news items for Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Explore news

Highlights

News

link

Hydrologic Restoration in Coastal Wetlands Enhances Climate Change Mitigation Benefits

link

Coastal and Marine Mendenhall Postdoctoral Research Opportunities

link

Sound Waves Newsletter - July-August 2022

View All

Publications

CO2 uptake offsets other greenhouse gas emissions from salt marshes with chronic nitrogen loading

Coastal wetlands are known for exceptional productivity, but they also receive intense land-based nitrogen (N) loading. In Narragansett Bay, RI (USA), coastal ecosystems have received anthropogenic N inputs from wastewater for more than two centuries. Greenhouse gas fluxes were studied throughout a growing season (2016) in three coastal wetlands with contrasting histories of nitrogen loading. The
By
Woods Hole 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
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Impacts of the ocean-atmosphere coupling into the very short range prediction system during the impact of Hurricane Matthew on Cuba

The main goal of this investigation is analyzing the impact of insert the ocean-atmosphere coupling into the very short range prediction system of Cuba. The ocean-atmosphere coupled components of the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport Modeling System are used for this purpose and the hurricane Matthew is selected as study case. Two experiments are performed: first, using a dynamic s
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
View All

Science

link
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...
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
link

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...
Learn More
link
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...
By
Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
link

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...
Learn More
link
Inlet into Pleasant bay, looking north to Nauset Beach, Cape Cod National Seashore, Chatham, MA

State of Our Nation's Coast

The USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program (CMHRP) established a Coastal Change Hazards (CCH) programmatic focus to support the optimization of resources, improve the visibility of USGS coastal hazards science, and prioritize science, products, and tools that meet stakeholder needs. Important work by CMHRP scientists and staff within CCH supports hazard mitigation along our nation’s...
By
Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
link

State of Our Nation's Coast

The USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program (CMHRP) established a Coastal Change Hazards (CCH) programmatic focus to support the optimization of resources, improve the visibility of USGS coastal hazards science, and prioritize science, products, and tools that meet stakeholder needs. Important work by CMHRP scientists and staff within CCH supports hazard mitigation along our nation’s...
Learn More
View All