San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary
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The San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is one of the largest estuaries in the United States. It provides water to more than 25 million California residents, farmlands, and key fish and wildlife habitats. To help ensure the health of this crucial estuary, the U.S. Geological Survey provides science essential to address issues of importance to our partners and the public.
San Francisco Bay and Delta Overview Video
Learn about the San Francisco Bay-Delta ecosystem, current management issues, and some of the monitoring and research the USGS is conducting in coordination with others.
Watch VideoUSGS Science at Work
This fact sheet provides an overview of USGS research in the San Francisco Bay-Delta region.
Read MoreState of the Network
Long-Term, High-Frequency Flow and Water Quality Data in the San Francisco Estuary, California
New article provides examples of the work being done to measure water flow and quality in the San Francisco Estuary.
Read the ArticlePublications
Influence of invasive submerged aquatic vegetation (E. densa) on currents and sediment transport in a freshwater tidal system
We present a field study combining measurements of vegetation density, vegetative drag, and reduction of suspended-sediment concentration (SSC) within patches of the invasive submerged aquatic plant Egeria densa. Our study was motivated by concern that sediment trapping by E. densa, which has proliferated in the Sacramento–San Joaquin...
Lacy, Jessica R.; Foster-Martinez, Madeline R.; Allen, Rachel M.; Drexler, Judith Z. Effects of tidally varying river flow on entrainment of juvenile salmon into Sutter and Steamboat Sloughs
Survival of juvenile salmonids in the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta (Delta) varies by migration route, and thus the proportion of fish that use each route affects overall survival through the Delta. Understanding factors that drive routing at channel junctions along the Sacramento River is therefore critical to devising management strategies that...
Romine, Jason G.; Perry, Russell; Stumpner, Paul; Blake, Aaron R.; Burau, Jon R.
Shoreline retreat of the Corte Madera marshes, 1853 to 2016, Marin County, California
The greater San Francisco Bay estuary, prior to human intervention, encompassed about 2,200 km2 of tidal and salt marshes. Over time, these areas became increasingly diked, developed, and altered from their natural state. In addition, natural forces are always driving a continually shifting equilibrium.This study area, the Corte Madera marshes, is...
Carkin, Bradley A.; Kayen, Robert E.; Wong, Florence L.