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Check out the latest Sound Waves Newsletter

See what we've been up to this fall

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Teaching Software to Track Coastal Change

"Human-in-the-Loop Segmentation of Earth Imagery"

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A Decade of Evolution

Hurricane Sandy's Historic Impacts Propel USGS Science

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Coral Reefs as National, Natural Infrastructure

USGS Research Geologist Curt Storlazzi explains how healthy coral reefs in places like the Caribbean and Pacific Islands serve as national, natural infrastructure

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Surprising tsunamis caused by explosive eruption in Tonga

An in-depth article on the unique event in the South Pacific

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Deep-Sea Expedition with USGS, NOAA, and BOEM Explores West Coast Wind Sites

Read Stories from the Expedition

USGS scientists publish a database of lidar derived topo-bathy cross-shore profiles and characteristics

U.S. Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico sandy coastlines

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Hurricane Florence Numerical Modeling

Explore Geonarrative

Can coral restoration reverse long-term declines in coral reef growth?

New USGS-led research shows restoration could bring coral reef growth back to historic levels.

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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program

Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program scientists and staff study coastal and ocean resources and processes from shorelines and estuaries to the continental shelf and deep sea.

Science Strategy

Coral reef and Loggerhead Key in Dry Tortugas National Park

CMHRP’s decadal science strategy for 2020-2030

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Science Data Catalog

Perspective view of northeast Channel Islands

Find and download data

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Sound Waves Newsletter

Four people on a boat with a metal frame.

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News

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Changing Wave Dynamics in Arctic Alaska

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Sound Waves Newsletter - September-November 2022

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Discover Coastal and Marine Science of the USGS St. Petersburg

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Publications

Collections management plan for the U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center samples repository

Since 2002, the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Samples Repository has been supporting U.S. Geological Survey research by providing secure storage for geological, geochemical, and biological samples, organizing and actively inventorying these sample collections, and providing researchers access to these scientific collections for study and reuse. Over the years, storage facilities ha
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Samples Repository, WHCMSC Sediment Laboratory

Integrating Bayesian networks to forecast sea-level rise impacts on barrier island characteristics and habitat availability

Evaluation of sea-level rise (SLR) impacts on coastal landforms and habitats is a persistent need for informing coastal planning and management, including policy decisions, particularly those that balance human interests and habitat protection throughout the coastal zone. Bayesian networks (BNs) are used to model barrier island change under different SLR scenarios that are relevant to management a
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

CoastalImageLib: An open-source Python package for creating common coastal image products

CoastalImageLib is a Python library that produces common coastal image products intended for quantitative analysis of coastal environments. This library contains functions to georectify and merge multiple oblique camera views, produce statistical image products for a given set of images, and create subsampled pixel instruments for use in bathymetric inversion, surface current estimation, run-up ca
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Science

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Image: USCGC Healy in Heavy Ice Passing CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent

Delineating the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf

The United States has an interest in knowing the full extent of its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from shore (called the extended continental shelf, or ECS) so that it can better protect, manage and use the resources of the seabed and subsoil contained therein. The USGS contributes to the ECS effort through membership and leadership on the interagency U.S. ECS Task Force, a group...
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Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Delineating the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf

The United States has an interest in knowing the full extent of its continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles from shore (called the extended continental shelf, or ECS) so that it can better protect, manage and use the resources of the seabed and subsoil contained therein. The USGS contributes to the ECS effort through membership and leadership on the interagency U.S. ECS Task Force, a group...
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Photograph of four airgun arrays towed behind R/V Marcus G. Langseth.

USGS Law of the Sea

The USGS Law of the Sea project helps to determine the outer limits of the extended continental shelf (ECS) of the United States. The ECS is that portion of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. It is an important maritime zone that holds many resources and vital habitats for marine life. Its size may exceed one million square kilometers, encompassing areas in the Arctic, Atlantic...
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
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USGS Law of the Sea

The USGS Law of the Sea project helps to determine the outer limits of the extended continental shelf (ECS) of the United States. The ECS is that portion of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles. It is an important maritime zone that holds many resources and vital habitats for marine life. Its size may exceed one million square kilometers, encompassing areas in the Arctic, Atlantic...
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View of beach from roof top, edge of roof in foreground, pier extending from beach out over water in center, park in background.

Remote Sensing Coastal Change

We use remote-sensing technologies—such as aerial photography, satellite imagery, structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry, and lidar (laser-based surveying)—to measure coastal change along U.S. shorelines.
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Natural Hazards, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
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Remote Sensing Coastal Change

We use remote-sensing technologies—such as aerial photography, satellite imagery, structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry, and lidar (laser-based surveying)—to measure coastal change along U.S. shorelines.
Learn More
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