Our Capacities
Our Capacities
The USGS conducts multidisciplinary research to address the conservation, restoration and management needs in the Gulf as identified by external partners and USGS supporting programs. We engage in science partnership opportunities to leverage data acquisition, analysis, modeling, monitoring and adaptive management, and data management and visualization capabilities, that provide information for use locally, regionally and nationally.
RESTORE Council Monitoring and Assessment Program
RESTORE Council Monitoring and Assessment Program
The RESTORE Council Monitoring and Assessment Program (CMAP), administered by NOAA and USGS, is building foundational components for a Gulf–wide monitoring network.
Alabama Barrier Island Restoration Assessment
Alabama Barrier Island Restoration Assessment
This project was a collaborative effort between the USGS, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and the State of Alabama to investigate viable, sustainable restoration options that protect and restore the natural resources of Dauphin Island, Alabama.
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Natural Resource Damage and Assessment (NRDA) Program Monitoring and Adaptive Management
State and Federal agencies, including USGS, are working together to assess the damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and to determine appropriate restoration actions to restore natural resources, ecological services, and recreational services injured or lost due to the incident.
NRDA: Deepwater ROV Sampling to Assess Potential Impacts to Hardbottom Coral Communities and Associates from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
The MC252 oil spill introduced hydrocarbons, dispersants, and drilling muds into the Gulf, potentially adversely affecting the seafloor environment surrounding the spill site.
Monitoring Effects of Barrier Island Restoration on Piping Plovers in Louisiana
The federally threatened piping plover relies on sand-beach habitat year-round for nesting, foraging, and roosting, habitat that is particularly vulnerable to loss and degradation from coastal development, recreation activities, erosion, and sea-level rise.
Fine-Scale Dive Profiles and Activity Patterns of Sea Turtles in the Gulf
Researchers are developing acceleration data logger pop-off packages that can be affixed to sea turtles to collect behavioral patterns of diving, surfacing, and general activity levels.
Enhancing Cross-Jurisdictional Adaptive Management in the Gulf
Using an iterative qualitative coding process, WARC researchers are identifying objectives, stressors, and management priorities to support the implementation of adaptive management in restoration programs across the Gulf.
Water Quality in Lake Pontchartrain and western Mississippi Sound during openings of Bonnet Carré Spillway
The Bonnet Carré Spillway, located about 28 miles northwest of New Orleans, Louisiana, was constructed in the early 1930s as part of an integrated flood-control structure for the lower Mississippi River Plain. The spillway is designed to divert water from the Mississippi River into Lake Pontchartrain, thus relieving pressure on levees downstream. Opening of the spillway occurs when measured...
Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council Monitoring and Assessment Program Development
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and USGS will jointly lead the development of foundational components for region-wide monitoring.
Model Improvements for Louisiana’s 2023 Coastal Master Plan
The Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority’s Coastal Master Plan is a blueprint for responding to environmental changes. As part of the agency’s continued engagement, USGS supports model developments and improvements for the 2023 Coastal Master Plan.
Gulf Coast Wetland Shoreline Change
Land and seafloor slopes are generally low along the coasts in the Mid-Atlantic and Gulf Coast states, making wetlands and estuaries vulnerable to sea level change, subsidence, and extreme events (e.g., hurricanes and tropical storms). Land-use change and land loss have been mapped extensively and with increasing frequency, but the link between land loss and the processes responsible for landscape...
Use of Lidar in Coastal Studies
Since 1998, airborne light detection and ranging, or lidar, capabilities have been developed and utilized to support CMHRP research projects and hazard assessments. Lidar is a remote-sensing technique that measures distance to a target by sending out light energy and detecting how long it takes the reflected pulses to return to the sensor. Lidar data provide information about the elevation, shape...
Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MsCIP)
In 2009, the Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MsCIP) was developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Mobile District in conjunction with other Federal and State agencies, to help reduce future storm damage along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The Comprehensive Plan for MsCIP includes restoring the Mississippi barrier islands and over 3,000 acres of wetland and coastal forest...
Alabama Barrier Island Restoration Assessment
This project is a collaborative effort between the USGS, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and the State of Alabama funded by National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) to investigate viable, sustainable restoration options that protect and restore the natural resources of Dauphin Island, Alabama. The project is focused on restoration options that protect and restore habitat and living...