Publications

A monthlong time series of wave, current, salinity, and suspended-sediment measurements was made at five sites on a transect across the Mouth of Columbia River (MCR). These data were used to calibrate and evaluate the performance of a coupled hydrodynamic and wave model for the MCR based on the Delft3D modeling system. The MCR is a dynamic estuary inlet in which tidal currents, river...

A 17-year time series of near-daily sand thickness measurements at a single intertidal location was compared with 5 years of semi-annual 3-dimensional beach surveys at the same beach, and at two other beaches within the same littoral cell. The daily single point measurements correlated extremely well with the mean beach elevation and shoreline position of ten high-spatial resolution...

The nearshore bathymetric evolution of a high-energy beach at the mouth of San Francisco Bay, California (USA), was tracked before, during, and after the powerful El Niño winter of 2009-10 to quantify alongshore bar formation and migration as well as the magnitude and alongshore variability of cross-shore transport. The observed deep-water winter wave energy was among the highest ever...

Sedimentologic analyses of 21 sediment cores, ranging from 0.4 to 9.6 m in length, reveal that the shallow geologic framework of the Skagit River Delta, western Washington, United States, has changed significantly since 1850. The cores collected from elevations of 3.94 to -2.41 m (relative to mean lower low water) along four cross-shore transects between the emergent marsh and delta...

Beginning in 1997, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defined a contaminated section of the Palos Verdes Shelf region in southern California as a Superfund Site, initiating a continuing investigation of this area. The investigation involved the EPA, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts...

This report summarizes vegetation and substrate properties of aeolian landscapes in the Colorado River corridor through Grand Canyon, Arizona, in Grand Canyon National Park. Characterizing these parameters provides a basis from which to assess future changes in this ecosystem, including the spread of nonnative plant species. Differences are apparent between aeolian dune fields that are...

A high-resolution bathymetric survey of Corte Madera Bay, California, was collected in early 2010 in support of a collaborative research project initiated by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission and funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The primary objective of the Innovative Wetland Adaptation in the Lower Corte Madera Creek Watershed Project is to...

‘‘Extreme Ocean Waves’’ is a collection of ten papers edited by Efim Pelinovsky and Christian Kharif that followed the April 2007 meeting of the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union. A note on terminology: extreme waves in this volume broadly encompass different types of waves, includ- ing deep-water and shallow-water rogue waves (alternatively termed freak waves), storm...

Between February 22 and March 3, 2010, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center (PCMSC), acquired bathymetry and acoustic-backscatter data from the Elwha River Delta, Strait of Juan de Fuca, Washington, under PCMSC Field Activity ID S-6-10-PS. Three ancillary surveys were conducted when sea conditions were too rough for surveying...

After years of planning for the largest project of its kind, the Department of the Interior will begin removal of two dams on the Elwha River, Washington, in September 2011. For nearly 100 years, the Elwha and Glines Canyon Dams have disrupted natural processes, trapping sediment in the reservoirs and blocking fish migrations, which changed the ecology of the river downstream of the dams...

New multibeam echosounder and processing technologies yield sub-meter-scale bathymetric resolution, revealing striking details of bedform morphology that are shaped by complex boundary-layer flow dynamics at a range of spatial and temporal scales. An inertially aided post processed kinematic (IAPPK) technique generates a smoothed best estimate trajectory (SBET) solution to tie the vessel...

Lake-floor depths shown by color, from light tan (shallowest) to blue (deepest). Arrows on map (C) show orientations of perspective views. A, view toward McKinney Bay over blocks tumbled onto the lake floor by a massive landslide 10s to 100s of thousands of years ago; dark triangular block near center is approximately 1.5 km (0.9 mi) across and 120 m (390 ft) high. B, view toward South...