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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

2022 Annual Report

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Mapping methane reduction potential of tidal wetland restoration in the United States

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Opportunities to improve alignment with the FAIR Principles for U.S. Geological Survey data

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Scientific literature and information products produced by Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center staff

Featured Journal Article

Herring River, Wellfleet, MA

Calibrating optical turbidity measurements with suspended-sediment concentrations from the Herring River in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, from November 2018 to November 2019

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Featured USGS Series

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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center—2022 Annual Report.  The 2022 annual report highlights accomplishments, includes a list of publications, and summarizes the work of the center and each of the science groups.

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Coastal and Marine Research News from Across the USGS

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Filter Total Items: 1684

Permeability of methane hydrate-bearing sandy silts in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico (Green Canyon Block 955)

Permeability is one of the most crucial properties governing fluid flow in methane hydrate reservoirs. This paper presents a comprehensive permeability analysis of hydrate-bearing sandy silt pressure-cored from Green Canyon Block 955 (GC 955) in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico. We developed an experimental protocol to systematically characterize the transport and petrophysical properties in pressure
Authors
Yi Fang, Peter Flemings, Hugh Daigle, Stephen C. Phillips, Joshua O'Connell
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Integrated geochemical approach to determine the source of methane in gas hydrate from Green Canyon Block 955 in the Gulf of Mexico

Massive volumes of gas are sequestered within gas hydrate in subsurface marine sediments in the Gulf of Mexico. Methane associated with gas hydrate is a potentially important economic resource and a significant reservoir of carbon within the global carbon cycle. Nevertheless, uncertainties remain about the genetic source (e.g., microbial, thermogenic) and possible migration history of natural gas
Authors
Myles T. Moore, Stephen C. Phillips, Ann Cook, Thomas H. Darrah
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Development and application of Landsat-based wetland vegetation cover and unvegetated-vegetated marsh ratio (UVVR) for the conterminous United States

Effective management and restoration of salt marshes and other vegetated intertidal habitats require objective and spatially integrated metrics of geomorphic status and vulnerability. The unvegetated-vegetated marsh ratio (UVVR), a recently developed metric, can be used to establish present-day vegetative cover, identify stability thresholds, and quantify vulnerability to open-water conversion ove
Authors
Neil K. Ganju, Brady Couvillion, Zafer Defne, Kate Ackerman
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Chesapeake Bay Activities, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center , Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Barkley Canyon gas hydrates: A synthesis based on two decades of seafloor observation and remote sensing

Barkley Canyon is one of the few known sites worldwide with the occurrence of thermogenic gas seepage and formation of structure-II and structure-H gas hydrate mounds on the seafloor. This site is the location of continuous seafloor monitoring as part of the Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) cabled observatory off the west coast off Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. We combine repeat remotely
Authors
M. Reidel, M. Scherwath, M. Romer, C. K. Paull, E. Lundsten, D. W. Caress, P. Brewer, John Pohlman, L. L. Lapham, N. R. Chapman, M. Whiticar, G. D. Spence, R. Enkin, K. Douglas
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Detection and characterization of coastal tidal wetland change in the northeastern US using Landsat time series

Coastal tidal wetlands are highly altered ecosystems exposed to substantial risk due to widespread and frequent land-use change coupled with sea-level rise, leading to disrupted hydrologic and ecologic functions and ultimately, significant reduction in climate resiliency. Knowing where and when the changes have occurred, and the nature of those changes, is important for coastal communities and nat
Authors
Xiucheng Yang, Zhe Zhu, Shirley Qiu, Kevin D. Kroeger, Zhiliang Zhu, Scott Covington
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Predicted sea-level rise-driven biogeomorphological changes on Fire Island, New York: Implications for people and plovers

Forecasting biogeomorphological conditions for barrier islands is critical for informing sea-level rise (SLR) planning, including management of coastal development and ecosystems. We combined five probabilistic models to predict SLR-driven changes and their implications on Fire Island, New York, by 2050. We predicted barrier island biogeomorphological conditions, dynamic landcover response, piping
Authors
Sara Lynn Zeigler, Benjamin T. Gutierrez, Erika Lentz, Nathaniel Plant, Emily J. Sturdivant, Kara S. Doran
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Estimating the aboveground biomass and carbon stocks of tall shrubs in a prerestoration degraded salt marsh

Wetlands play a vital role in Earth's carbon cycle and provide important ecosystem services. Their ability to perform their roles can be compromised by human activities that destroy or impair their functioning. The restoration of degraded wetlands may allow carbon cycle functioning, as well as other services, to be recovered. Predicting the potential outcomes from any restoration project requires
Authors
Jacqualyn Fouse, Meagan J. Eagle, Kevin D. Kroeger, Timothy P. Smith
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Bolide impact effects on the West Florida Platform, Gulf of Mexico: End Cretaceous and late Eocene

This study documents seismic reflection evidence that two different bolide impacts significantly disrupted stratigraphic and depositional processes on the West Florida Platform. The first impact terminated the Late Cretaceous Epoch (Chicxulub; ~66 Ma; end Maastrichtian age). The second took place in the late Eocene (Chesapeake Bay; ~35 Ma; Priabonian age). Both impacts produced far-reaching seis
Authors
Claude (Wylie) Poag
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Modeling the dynamics of salt marsh development in coastal land reclamation

The valuable ecosystem services of salt marshes are spurring marsh restoration projects around the world. However, it is difficult to determine the final vegetated area based on physical drivers. Herein, we use a 3D fully coupled vegetation-hydrodynamic-morphological modeling system (COAWST), to simulate the final vegetation cover and the timescale to reach it under various forcing conditions. Mar
Authors
Yiyang Xu, Tarandeep S. Kalra, Neil K. Ganju, Sergio Fagherazzi
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

USGS tools perform gas source analysis in the field

Field studies of gas hydrate rely on gas sampling and analysis tools to determine the origins and alteration of methane and other hydrocarbons. The conventional strategy for deciphering gas origins has been to collect gas and other related samples in the field then pack, ship, store, and later analyze these discrete samples in a laboratory using instruments that require specialized training and de
Authors
John Pohlman, Michael Casso, Lee-Gray Boze, Emile Bergeron
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Comparison of sediment composition by smear slides to quantitative shipboard data: A case study on the utility of smear slide percent estimates, IODP Expedition 353, northern Indian Ocean

Smear slide petrography has been a standard technique during scientific ocean drilling expeditions to characterize sediment composition and classify sediment types, but presentation of these percent estimates to track downcore trends in sediment composition has become less frequent over the past 2 decades. We compare semi-quantitative smear slide composition estimates to physical property (natural
Authors
Stephen C. Phillips, Kate Littler
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Mature diffuse tectonic block boundary revealed by the 2020 southwestern Puerto Rico seismic sequence

Distributed faulting typically tends to coalesce into one or a few faults with repeated deformation. The progression of clustered medium-sized (≥Mw4.5) earthquakes during the 2020 seismic sequence in southwestern Puerto Rico (SWPR), modeling shoreline subsidence from InSAR, and sub-seafloor mapping by high-resolution seismic reflection profiles, suggest that the 2020 SWPR seismic sequence was dist

Authors
Uri S. ten Brink, L Vanacore, E. J. Fielding, Jason Chaytor, A.M. Lopez-Venegas, Wayne E. Baldwin, David S. Foster, Brian D. Andrews
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center