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The Science Career coloring books were super popular at the 2025 Woods Hole Science Stroll.

The USGS booth at the 2025 Woods Hole Science Stroll on August 9, 2025. During this free event, a variety of booths line the streets, docks, and Waterfront Park to deliver hands-on science activities, games, demonstrations, and more to visitors of all ages. 

Marie Bartlett at the microscope station where visitors could look at foraminifera, tiny microfossils that live in marine environments. Scientists at the USGS use foraminifera to determine the age of sediment found many meters below the seafloor and to learn more about past climate conditions.

The Aerial Imaging and Mapping Group showcased uncrewed aircraft system technology (drones) of all sizes and talked about how they’re used to map short- and long-term changes in coastal landscapes. The group also flew one of the drones to demonstrate how they’re piloted. 

Zafer Defne discussed discussed ocean and coastal dynamics with attendees and provided details about the COAWST modeling system. The COAWST model allows many sophisticated models to work together to accurately simulate physical processes during a storm.

Zafer Defne discussed ocean and coastal dynamics with attendees and provided details about the COAWST modeling system. The COAWST model allows many sophisticated models to work together to accurately simulate physical processes during a storm.

Curl Curl Beach, New South Wales, Australia, the test site used in the collaborative shoreline modeling workshop ShoreShop2.0, from the study Benchmarking shoreline prediction models over multi-decadal timescales.

Location of BeachX. Inset wave rose shows the location and distribution of offshore waves from ERA5. b The detailed map of BeachX (Curl Curl Beach, New South Wales, Australia). The color gradient at the seaside indicates bathymetry. Yellow lines represent transects. Red dots show the location of nearshore waves.

The USGS office in Woods Hole, MA recently conducted a survey of Long Pond—a local waterbody in the town of Falmouth. Long Pond has been Falmouth’s primary drinking water source since 1898.

In August, the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center had four great presentations from summer interns discussing various aspects of salt marsh science!

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and USGS prepared four activities for the Preserving Our Homelands Summer Camp on July 22nd. EPA hosted an air quality monitoring activity that involved the campers conducting tests and participating in a guided discussion about factors contributing to air quality and its implications on people and habitat.

An example seasonally rotating beach of southern California (Salt Creek Beach, 33.4788°N, 117.7237°W) showing (a,b) general patterns of rotation from satellite imagery, (c) spatial distribution of seasonal shoreline excursions (marker size) and timing of the shoreline seasonality (marker colour) from the STL and k-means results and (d) time series of shoreline posit

Aerial image of Estero de San Antonio on Bodega Bay, an example of a seasonally rotating pocket beach in California.

A recent USGS study highlights the impacts of #hurricanes and #storms on #barrierislands, focusing on the outwash process, where flooding from behind the dunes removes sand, plants, and seeds, washing them into the #ocean. 

Preparing equipment to map the geologic framework of Nantucket Sound, offshore Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

The USGS used #drones to collect aerial remote sensing data across the Lower #DarbyCreek Area Superfund Site and the adjacent #JohnHeinzNationalWildlifeRefuge, about 5 miles outside of #Philadelphia, PA. The data release is now available: https://doi.org/10.5066/P134HU3Y.  

Pacific Missile Range Facility-Barking Sands in Hawai'i, operated by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Banner image for the Coastal Science Navigator, an online gateway for users such as state and local planners, resources managers, consultants, and researchers to more easily gain access to USGS coastal science data, products, tools, and information.

BAYEX predictions of 100-year storm surge return levels and associated 90% credible interval widths for the entire US coastline. From the study Observations reveal changing coastal storm extremes around the United States.

New data release presents an update to the Coastal Response Likelihood model—a spatially explicit, probabilistic model that evaluates coastal response for the Northeastern U.S. under various sea-level scenarios. https://doi.org/10.5066/P13JKJUT  

The USGS is actively mapping the seafloor surface and its underlying structure in coastal to deep sea environments. These maps provide the scientific foundation needed to address national priorities, including #publicsafety, #nationalsecurity, #energydominance, and #economicprosperity.