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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: 1683

Modeling marsh dynamics using a 3-D coupled wave-flow-sediment model

Salt marshes are dynamic biogeomorphic systems that respond to external physical factors, including tides, sediment transport, and waves, as well as internal processes such as autochthonous soil formation. Predicting the fate of marshes requires a modeling framework that accounts for these processes in a coupled fashion. In this study, we implement two new marsh dynamic processes in the 3-D COAWST
Authors
Tarandeep S. Kalra, Neil K. Ganju, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Joel A. Carr, Zafer Defne, Julia Moriarty
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Contribution of deep-sourced carbon from hydrocarbon seeps to sedimentary organic carbon: Evidence from radiocarbon and stable isotope geochemistry

Sulfate-driven anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) limits the release of methane from marine sediments and promotes the formation of carbonates close to the seafloor in seepage areas along continental margins. It has been established that hydrocarbon seeps are a source of methane, dissolved inorganic carbon, and dissolved organic carbon to marine environments. However, questions remain about the
Authors
Dong Feng, John Pohlman, Jorn Peckmann, Yuedong Sun, Yu Hu, Harry Roberts, Duofu Chen
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Earthquake magnitude distributions on northern Caribbean faults from combinatorial optimization models

On-fault earthquake magnitude distributions are calculated for northern Caribbean faults using estimates of fault slip and regional seismicity parameters. Integer programming, a combinatorial optimization method, is used to determine the optimal spatial arrangement of earthquakes sampled from a truncated Gutenberg-Richter distribution that minimizes the global misfit in slip rates on a complex fau

Authors
Eric L. Geist, Uri S. ten Brink
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, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Elevated levels of radiocarbon in methane dissolved in seawater reveal likely local contamination from nuclear powered vessels

Measurements of the natural radiocarbon content of methane (14C-CH4) dissolved in seawater and freshwater have been used to investigate sources and dynamics of methane. However, during investigations along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Ocean Margins of the United States, as well as in the North American Great Lakes, some samples revealed highly elevated 14C-CH4 values, as much as 4–5 times abo
Authors
D.J. Joung, Carolyn D. Ruppel, J. Southon, John D. Kessler
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center—2020 annual report

The 2020 annual report of the U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center highlights accomplishments of 2020, includes a list of 2020 publications, and summarizes the work of the center, as well as the work of each of its science groups. This product allows readers to gain a general understanding of the focus areas of the center’s scientific research and learn more about sp
Authors
Sara Ernst
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Isolating detrital and diagenetic signals in magnetic susceptibility records from methane-bearing marine sediments

Volume-dependent magnetic susceptibility (κ) is commonly used for paleoenvironmental reconstructions in both terrestrial and marine sedimentary environments where it reflects a mixed signal between primary deposition and secondary diagenesis. In the marine environment, κ is strongly influenced by the abundance of ferrimagnetic minerals regulated by sediment transport processes. Post-depositional a
Authors
Joel P. L. Johnson, Stephen C. Phillips, William Clyde, Liviu Giosan, Marta E. Torres
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Labeling poststorm coastal imagery for machine learning: Measurement of interrater agreement

Classifying images using supervised machine learning (ML) relies on labeled training data—classes or text descriptions, for example, associated with each image. Data-driven models are only as good as the data used for training, and this points to the importance of high-quality labeled data for developing a ML model that has predictive skill. Labeling data is typically a time-consuming, manual proc
Authors
Evan B. Goldstein, Daniel D. Buscombe, Eli D. Lazarus, Somya Mohanty, Shah N. Rafique, K A Anarde, Andrew D Ashton, Tomas Beuzen, Katherine A. Castagno, Nicholas Cohn, Matthew P. Conlin, Ashley Ellenson, Megan Gillen, Paige A. Hovenga, Jin-Si R. Over, Rose V. Palermo, Katherine Ratlif, Ian R Reeves, Lily H. Sanborn, Jessamin A. Straub, Luke A. Taylor, Elizabeth J. Wallace, Jonathan Warrick, Phillipe Alan Wernette, Hannah E Williams
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Southwest Biological Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Florence, Hurricane Isaias, Hurricane Michael, Hurricanes

Hydrate formation on marine seep bubbles and the implications for water column methane dissolution

Methane released from seafloor seeps contributes to a number of benthic, water column, and atmospheric processes. At seafloor seeps within the methane hydrate stability zone, crystalline gas hydrate shells can form on methane bubbles while the bubbles are still in contact with the seafloor or as the bubbles begin ascending through the water column. These shells reduce methane dissolution rates, al
Authors
Xiaojing Fu, William F. Waite, Carolyn D. Ruppel
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Discrete sample introduction module for quantitative and isotopic analysis of methane and other gases by cavity ring-down spectroscopy

Carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) are natural and anthropogenic products that play a central role in the global carbon cycle and regulating Earth’s climate. Applications utilizing laser absorption spectroscopy, which continuously measure concentrations and stable isotope ratios of these greenhouse gases, are routinely employed to measure the source and magnitude of atmospheric inputs. We deve
Authors
John Pohlman, Michael Casso, Cedric Magen, Emile M. Bergeron
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Modeling morphodynamics of coastal response to extreme events: What shape are we in?

This review focuses on recent advances in process-based numerical models of the impact of extreme storms on sandy coasts. Driven by larger-scale models of meteorology and hydrodynamics, these models simulate morphodynamics across the Sallenger storm-impact scale, including swash, collision, overwash, and inundation. Models are becoming both wider (as more processes are added) and deeper (as detail
Authors
Christopher R. Sherwood, Ap van Dongeren, James Doyle, Christie Hegermiller, T. J. Hsu, Tarandeep S. Kalra, Maitane Olabarrieta, Allison Penko, Yashar Rafati, Dano Roelvink, Marlies van der Lugt, Jay Veeramony, John C. Warner
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Metabolic flexibility of aerobic methanotrophs under anoxic conditions in Arctic lake sediments

Methane (CH4) emissions from Arctic lakes are a large and growing source of greenhouse gas to the atmosphere with critical implications for global climate. Because Arctic lakes are ice covered for much of the year, understanding the metabolic flexibility of methanotrophs under anoxic conditions would aid in characterizing the mechanisms responsible for limiting CH4 emissions from high-latitude reg
Authors
Ruoying He, Jing Wang, John Pohlman, Zhongjun Jia, Yi-Xuan Chu, Matthew Wooller, Mary Beth Leigh
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Processing coastal imagery with Agisoft Metashape Professional Edition, version 1.6—Structure from motion workflow documentation

IntroductionStructure from motion (SFM) has become an integral technique in coastal change assessment; the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) used Agisoft Metashape Professional Edition photogrammetry software to develop a workflow that processes coastline aerial imagery collected in response to storms since Hurricane Florence in 2018. This report details step-by-step instructions to create three-dimen

Authors
Jin-Si R. Over, Andrew C. Ritchie, Christine J. Kranenburg, Jenna A. Brown, Daniel D. Buscombe, Tom Noble, Christopher R. Sherwood, Jonathan A. Warrick, Phillipe A. Wernette
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Water Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Southwest Biological Science Center, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Hurricane Florence, Hurricanes