Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Shaded relief image of Northern Cape Cod Bay, MA

The Instrumented Pressure Testing Chamber (IPTC). A device for measuring the physical properties of naturally-occurring, hydrate-bearing sediment at nearly in situ pressure conditions

Comparison of observed near-bed velocities and modeled near-bed velocities using several bottom-roughness formulations. Velocity vectors are overlaid on map of backscatter from the sea floor showing regions with coarse sand (light color) and fine sand (dark colors). White lines are bathymetry contours. Mean velocities were averaged over entire period (top panel), flood and

Methane seeping on the Virginia margin just shallower than the limit for gas hydrate stability. 

Simulation results for geomorphic change in Suisun Bay, CA (Ganju and Schoellhamer, 2010)

The R/V Rafael performs nearshore geophysical surveys, and includes high resolution sub-bottom profiling, sidescan sonar, and multibeam echosounding in its arsenal of survey capabilities. The R/V Rafael can cruise at 30 knots fully loaded, so day surveys in large lakes, bays, or rivers, and near-shore ocean environments that require long transits can be cost effective.

Sandra Brosnahan (USGS) collecting water samples (Long Island, NY).

John Pohlman (USGS, left) and colleagues from the University of Alaska Fairbanks examine a sediment core retrieved through winter ice from the bottom of a lake in northern Alaska. Such cores are used to reconstruct methane emissions and climate history over the past 20,000 years.

Map of the North American - Caribbean tectonic plate boundary. Colors denote depth below sea level and elevation on land. Bold numbers are the years of moderately large (larger than about M7) historical earthquakes written next to their approximate location. Asterisk - Location of the January 12, 2010 earthquake. Barbed lines- boundary where one plate or block plunges

A methane seep in shallow Lake Qalluuraq on the Alaskan North Slope near the Native Village of Atqasuk breaks the water's surface during 2009 geophysical surveys

 U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy breaks ice ahead of the Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent on September 1, 2009. The two ships were part of a multi-year, multi-agency Arctic survey that will help define the North American continental shelf.