Images

Maps showing the results of the Coastal Change Likelihood (CCL) for Long Beach, CT (top), and for Whitehall Beach, NY (bottom). 

Map showing long-term shoreline change rate variations for coastal Long Island Sound. 

Sandy shoreline with bird on the wet sand.

Conceptual diagram showing the structure of the Bayesian network used to assess potential sea-level rise impacts on the coastal landscape.

Geographic extent of Coastal Response data layers by publication timeline. Results for the Northeast U.S. are available as of 2025 (inset). Data for the Southeast Atlantic and eastern Gulf of Mexico are anticipated in mid-2026, with expansion to the western Gulf planned for 2027. 

The starting view is from January, 1970, a field photo of Punta Ventana (“Window Point”) at Guayanilla, Puerto Rico (Monroe, 1980). The image fades to the March 5, 2020 color photo of the same location (ten Brink, 2020). The natural arch had collapsed from earthquake shaking on January 6, 2020 during the 2020 Southwest Puerto Rico Earthquake Sequence.

The Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 6 is a standalone application that calculates shoreline or boundary change over time. The GIS of a user’s choice is used to prepare the data for DSAS. Like previous versions, DSAS v.6 enables a user to calculate rate-of-change statistics from multiple historical shoreline positions.

DSAS generates transects that are cast perpendicular to the reference baseline to intersect shorelines at a user-specified spacing alongshore.

The Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 6 is a standalone application that calculates shoreline or boundary change over time. The GIS of a user’s choice is used to prepare the data for DSAS. Like previous versions, DSAS v.6 enables a user to calculate rate-of-change statistics from multiple historical shoreline positions.

The Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 6 is a standalone application that calculates shoreline or boundary change over time. The GIS of a user’s choice is used to prepare the data for DSAS. Like previous versions, DSAS v.6 enables a user to calculate rate-of-change statistics from multiple historical shoreline positions.

The Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 6 is a standalone application that calculates shoreline or boundary change over time. The GIS of a user’s choice is used to prepare the data for DSAS. Like previous versions, DSAS v.6 enables a user to calculate rate-of-change statistics from multiple historical shoreline positions.

The Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 6 is a standalone application that calculates shoreline or boundary change over time. The GIS of a user’s choice is used to prepare the data for DSAS. Like previous versions, DSAS v.6 enables a user to calculate rate-of-change statistics from multiple historical shoreline positions.

Testing a USGS patented device (DSIM) and measuring it's performance with a new analytical upgrade recently designed and installed. The DSIM allows for gas samples to be put into a spectrometer and measured in a closed loop, which increased the data signal fidelity, repeatability, and amount an analyte used.

Testing a USGS patented device (DSIM) and measuring it's performance with a new analytical upgrade recently designed and installed. The DSIM allows for gas samples to be put into a spectrometer and measured in a closed loop, which increased the data signal fidelity, repeatability, and amount an analyte used.

A snow covered science center in Woods Hole, Massachusetts after a powerful nor'easter hit the Cape Cod on January 25, 2026.

To safeguard our Nation’s coastal communities and assets, land-use planners and coastal managers rely on decision-support products to predict hazard impacts and subsequent coastal change. The question is, how confident can they be in those predictions? 

The USGS collected remote sensing data at Marconi Beach on Cape Cod National Seashore in Wellfleet, Massachusetts after fall storms in 2024 caused erosion and the loss of National Park Service beach access stairs.

The #USGS deployed a nanopod off Marconi Beach, Wellfleet, MA, to measure winter wave conditions. They also collected sediment samples to characterize sediment grain size.

Shipek grab sampler and sediment sample. Image is included in USGS data release, "Grain-size analysis of sediment samples collected in the nearshore zone offshore of Marconi Beach, Wellfleet, MA, December 9, 2024."

To assess our #sedimenttransport prediction techniques, #USGS scientists deployed a high-tech instrument off #SandyNeckBeach in Barnstable, Massachusetts from March-April 2021 to measure water velocity, temperature, and salinity, wave pressure, tidal force, seabed changes, and sediment characteristics. 

The USGS uses a nationwide network of coastal observing cameras (CoastCams) to monitor coastal conditions in near real-time and support research on a variety of coastal processes and hazards.