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Publications

The Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program publications are listed here. Search by topics and by year.

Filter Total Items: 1847

Observations and morphodynamic modeling of decadal-scale morphologic change in estuaries under sea level rise

Sea level rise is expected to affect coastal areas all around the world, including the estuarine environment. New bathymetry collected in 2014 provided a unique opportunity to test the modeling of Elmilady et al. (2019), who presented a morphodynamic DELFT3D model of San Pablo Bay, California, that included detailed tidal water movement, wind-wave action, sediment transport, and resulting bed leve
Authors
Bruce E. Jaffe, Hesham Elmilady, Mick Van der Wegen, Theresa A. Fregoso

Abundance and distribution of large thecosome pteropods in the northern Gulf of Mexico

The ecological role of large thecosome pteropods in the pelagic ecosystem of the northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM) may be substantial, both in the food web and biogeochemical cycling. We analyzed species abundances, vertical and horizontal distributions of large species with calcareous shells (those collected in 3-mm mesh nets). Pteropod samples were collected following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil
Authors
Sarah Shedler, Brad Seibel, Michael Vecchione, Dale W. Griffin, Heather Judkins

Biofilms as potential reservoirs of stony coral tissue loss disease

Since 2014, corals throughout Florida’s Coral Reef have been plagued by an epizootic of unknown etiology, colloquially termed stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD). Although in Florida the movement of this waterborne coral disease has been consistent with natural transport via water currents, outbreaks in the Caribbean have been more sporadic, with infections occurring in locations inconsistent
Authors
James S. Evans, Valerie J. Paul, Christina A. Kellogg

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
Authors
Brian J. Buczkowski

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
Authors
Benjamin T. Gutierrez, Sara Zeigler, Erika Lentz, Emily J. Sturdivant, Nathaniel Plant

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
Authors
Maile McCann, Dylan L. Anderson, Christopher R. Sherwood, Brittany Bruder, A. Spicer Bak, Katherine Brodie

Systematic mapping of the ocean-continent transform plate boundary of the Queen Charlotte fault system, southeastern Alaska and western British Columbia—A preliminary bathymetric terrain model

In 2015, U.S. Geological Survey scientists in collaboration with scientists from other institutions began a study of the Queen Charlotte fault—the first systematic study of the fault in more than three decades. The primary goal of the study was to gain a better understanding of the earthquake, tsunami, and underwater-landslide hazards throughout southeastern Alaska, as well as gather data to devel
Authors
Brian D. Andrews, Daniel S. Brothers, Peter Dartnell, J. Vaughn Barrie, Peter J. Haeussler, Kristen M. Green, H. Gary Greene, Nathaniel C. Miller, Jared W. Kluesner, Uri S. ten Brink

Unified methods in collecting, preserving, and archiving coral bleaching and restoration specimens to increase sample utility and interdisciplinary collaboration

Coral reefs are declining worldwide primarily because of bleaching and subsequent mortality resulting from thermal stress. Currently, extensive efforts to engage in more holistic research and restoration endeavors have considerably expanded the techniques applied to examine coral samples. Despite such advances, coral bleaching and restoration studies are often conducted within a specific disciplin
Authors
R. Vega Thurber, E R Schmeltzer, A G Grottoli, R. van Woesik, R. J. Toonen, M E Warner, K L Dobson, R H McLachlan, K L Barott, D J Barshis, J H Baumann, L Chapron, D J Combosch, A M S Correa, T M DeCarlo, M Hagedorn, Laetitia Hedouin, K D Hoadley, T Felis, C Ferrier-Pages, C D Kenkel, Ilsa B. Kuffner, J L Matthews, Miguel Medina, C P Meyer, C Oster, J T Price, H M Putnam, Y Sawall

Negligible atmospheric release of methane from decomposing hydrates in mid-latitude oceans

Naturally occurring gas hydrates may contribute to a positive feedback for global warming because they sequester large amounts of the potent greenhouse gas methane in ice-like deposits that could be destabilized by increasing ocean/atmospheric temperatures. Most hydrates occur within marine sediments; gas liberated during the decomposition of seafloor hydrates or originating with other methane poo
Authors
DongJoo Joung, Carolyn D. Ruppel, John R. Southon, Thomas Weber, John D. Kessler

Mechanisms and magnitude of dissolved silica release from a New England salt marsh

Salt marshes are sites of silica (SiO2) cycling and export to adjacent coastal systems, where silica availability can exert an important control over coastal marine primary productivity. Mineral weathering and biologic fixation concentrate silica in these systems; however, the relative contributions of geologic versus biogenic silica dissolution to this export are not known. We collected water sam
Authors
Olivia Williams, Andrew C. Kurtz, Meagan Eagle, Kevin D. Kroeger, Joseph Tamborski, Joanna C. Carey

Ocean acidification in the Gulf of Mexico: Drivers, impacts, and unknowns

Ocean acidification (OA) has resulted in global-scale changes in ocean chemistry, which can disturb marine organisms and ecosystems. Despite its extensively populated coastline, many marine-dependent communities, and valuable economies, the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) remains a relatively understudied region with respect to acidification. In general, the warm waters of the GOM are better buffered from ac
Authors
Emily Osborne, Xinping Hu, E. R. Hall, Kimberly K. Yates, Jennifer Vreeland-Dawson, Katie Shamberger, Leticia Barbero, J. Martin Hernandez-Ayon, Fabian Gomez, Tacey Hicks, Yuan-Yuan Xu, Melissa R. McCutcheon, Michael Acquafredda, Cecilia Chapa-Balcorta, Orion Norzagaray, Denis Pierrot, Alain Munoz-Caravaca, Kerri L. Dobson, N. Williams, N. N. Rabalais, Padmanava Dash

CO2 uptake offsets other greenhouse gas emissions from salt marshes with chronic nitrogen loading

Coastal wetlands are known for exceptional productivity, but they also receive intense land-based nitrogen (N) loading. In Narragansett Bay, RI (USA), coastal ecosystems have received anthropogenic N inputs from wastewater for more than two centuries. Greenhouse gas fluxes were studied throughout a growing season (2016) in three coastal wetlands with contrasting histories of nitrogen loading. The
Authors
Serena Moseman-Valtierra, Katelyn Szura, Meagan Eagle, Carol Thornber, Faming Wang