I'm a coastal oceanographer at the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, California.
Previously I was a Mendenhall Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center. I received my Ph.D. in Oceanography (Marine Geology and Geophysics) from the University of Washington in Seattle. My M.S.E. is in Civil & Environmental Engineering, also from the UW. I got my start in earth science as a hydrologist at the USGS’s National Research Program in Reston, VA.
Generally, I am interested in the sediment transport and morphology of coastal and riverine systems.
A key aspect of my current research is the interaction between waves, vegetation, and sediment transport in a variety of coastal environments. This work is done primarily as part of the Estuarine Physical Response to Storms and Estuarine Processes, Hazards, and Ecosystems projects.
Science and Products
Coastal Habitats in Puget Sound
Climate impacts to Arctic coasts
PS-CoSMoS: Puget Sound Coastal Storm Modeling System
Using Video Imagery to Study Sediment Transport and Wave Dynamics: Nuvuk (Point Barrow)
Using Video Imagery to Study Wave Dynamics: Unalakleet
Using Jupyter Notebooks to tell data stories and create reproducible workflows
Estuarine Processes, Hazards, and Ecosystems
Estuarine Processes Model Development
Estuarine Processes Model Development
Estuarine Processes Model Development
Estuarine Processes Model Development
Hydrodynamic and sediment transport data from Whale's Tail marsh and adjacent waters in South San Francisco Bay, California 2021-2022
Oceanographic and water-quality measurements collected in Bellingham Bay, Washington, USA, 2019 to 2021
Time-series measurements of pressure, conductivity, temperature, and water level collected in Puget Sound and Bellingham Bay, Washington, USA, 2018 to 2021
Eelgrass distributions and bathymetry of Bellingham Bay, Washington, 2019
Discharge measurements made in Bayou Heron and Bayou Middle, Grand Bay, Mississippi in January 2017
Oceanographic measurements collected in the Stillaguamish River Delta, Port Susan, Washington, USA from March 2014 to July 2015
Suspended-sediment concentration data from water samples collected in 2016-17 in Grand Bay, Alabama and Mississippi
Fluvial delivery and wave resuspension of sediment in a sheltered, urbanized Pacific Northwest estuary
Assessment of vulnerabilities and opportunities to restore marsh sediment supply at Nisqually River Delta, west-central Washington
Sediment dynamics of a divergent bay–marsh complex
Amazon sediment transport and accumulation along the continuum of mixed fluvial and marine processes
Sediment transport in a restored, river-influenced Pacific Northwest estuary
Predicting the success of future investments in coastal and estuarine ecosystem restorations is limited by scarce data quantifying sediment budgets and transport processes of prior restorations. This study provides detailed analyses of the hydrodynamics and sediment fluxes of a recently restored U.S. Pacific Northwest estuary, a 61 ha former agricultural area near the mouth of the Stillaguamish Ri
Understanding tidal marsh trajectories: Evaluation of multiple indicators of marsh persistence
Simple metrics predict salt-marsh sediment fluxes
Seasonal, tidal, and geomorphic controls on sediment export to Amazon River tidal floodplains
Storm impacts on hydrodynamics and suspended-sediment fluxes in a microtidal back-barrier estuary
Summary of oceanographic and water-quality measurements in Chincoteague Bay, Maryland and Virginia, 2014–15
Spectral wave dissipation by submerged aquatic vegetation in a back-barrier estuary
Quantification of storm-induced bathymetric change in a back-barrier estuary
Science and Products
- Science
Coastal Habitats in Puget Sound
A Pacific Northwest icon, Puget Sound is the second-largest estuary in the United States. Its unique geology, climate, and nutrient-rich waters produce and sustain biologically productive coastal habitats. These same natural characteristics also contribute to a high quality of life that has led to growth in human population and urbanization. This growth has played a role in degrading the Sound...Climate impacts to Arctic coasts
The Arctic region is warming faster than anywhere else in the nation. Understanding the rates and causes of coastal change in Alaska is needed to identify and mitigate hazards that might affect people and animals that call Alaska home.PS-CoSMoS: Puget Sound Coastal Storm Modeling System
The CoSMoS model is currently available for most of the California coast and is now being expanded to support the 4.5 million coastal residents of the Puget Sound region, with emphasis on the communities bordering the sound.Using Video Imagery to Study Sediment Transport and Wave Dynamics: Nuvuk (Point Barrow)
Two coastal observing video cameras are installed atop a utility pole near the northernmost point of land in the United States, at Nuvuk (Point Barrow), Alaska. The cameras point northwest toward the Arctic Ocean and the boundary between the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, and will be used to observe and quantify coastal processes such as wave run-up, bluff erosion, movement of sandbars and ice floes...Using Video Imagery to Study Wave Dynamics: Unalakleet
USGS scientists installed two video cameras atop a windmill tower in Unalakleet, Alaska, pointing westward over Norton Sound, to observe and quantify coastal processes such as wave run-up, development of rip channels, bluff erosion, and movement of sandbars and ice floes.Using Jupyter Notebooks to tell data stories and create reproducible workflows
Increasingly, USGS scientists seek to share and collaborate while working on data and code. Furthermore, these scientists often require advanced computing resources. Jupyter Notebooks are one such tool for creating these workflows. The files are interactive, code “notebooks” which allow users to combine code and text in one document, enabling scientists to share the stories held within their data...Estuarine Processes, Hazards, and Ecosystems
Estuarine processes, hazards, and ecosystems describes several interdisciplinary projects that aim to quantify and understand estuarine processes through observations and numerical modeling. Both the spatial and temporal scales of these mechanisms are important, and therefore require modern instrumentation and state-of-the-art hydrodynamic models. These projects are led from the U.S. Geological...Estuarine Processes Model Development
We are developing new routines within the COAWST model framework to represent coupled bio-physical processes in estuarine and coastal regions. These include routines for marsh vulnerability to waves, estuarine biogeochemistry, and feedbacks between aquatic vegetation and hydrodynamics.Estuarine Processes Model Development
We are developing new routines within the COAWST model framework to represent coupled bio-physical processes in estuarine and coastal regions. These include routines for marsh vulnerability to waves, estuarine biogeochemistry, and feedbacks between aquatic vegetation and hydrodynamics.Estuarine Processes Model Development
We are developing new routines within the COAWST model framework to represent coupled bio-physical processes in estuarine and coastal regions. These include routines for marsh vulnerability to waves, estuarine biogeochemistry, and feedbacks between aquatic vegetation and hydrodynamics.Estuarine Processes Model Development
We are developing new routines within the COAWST model framework to represent coupled bio-physical processes in estuarine and coastal regions. These include routines for marsh vulnerability to waves, estuarine biogeochemistry, and feedbacks between aquatic vegetation and hydrodynamics. - Data
Hydrodynamic and sediment transport data from Whale's Tail marsh and adjacent waters in South San Francisco Bay, California 2021-2022
The U.S. Geological Survey Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center collected hydrodynamic and sediment-transport data at shallow water sites in South San Francisco Bay and in the Whale's Tail South marsh in Eden Landing Ecological Reserve in Alameda County, CA in 2021 and 2022. This data release includes hydrodynamic and sediment transport time-series data spanning from June 2021 to January 2022Oceanographic and water-quality measurements collected in Bellingham Bay, Washington, USA, 2019 to 2021
Bottom-landing and floating platforms with instrumentation to measure currents, waves, water level, optical turbidity, water temperature, and conductivity were deployed at four locations in Bellingham Bay, Washington, USA. Platforms were deployed during three separate periods: July 30, 2019-November 14, 2019; November 19, 2019-February 5, 2020; and January 22, 2021-April 13, 2021. Additionally, waTime-series measurements of pressure, conductivity, temperature, and water level collected in Puget Sound and Bellingham Bay, Washington, USA, 2018 to 2021
Pressure, conductivity, temperature, and water level relative the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 (NAVD88) were measured at seven locations in Puget Sound and Bellingham Bay, Washington, USA, from November 2, 2018 to June 4, 2021. These data were collected using submersible pressure-conductivity-temperature sensors mounted on piers to support studies of extreme water levels and flooding hazaEelgrass distributions and bathymetry of Bellingham Bay, Washington, 2019
This data release presents eelgrass distributions and bathymetry data derived from acoustic surveys of Bellingham Bay, Washington. Survey operations were conducted between February 16 and February 21, 2019 (USGS Field Activity Number 2019-606-FA) by a team of scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center and Washington State Department of Ecology. Eelgrass anDischarge measurements made in Bayou Heron and Bayou Middle, Grand Bay, Mississippi in January 2017
Grand Bay, a 30-square-kilometer embayment of the Gulf of Mexico bordered by 20 square kilometers of salt marsh, is experiencing rapid lateral shoreline erosion at up to 5 meters per year. Determining whether the eroded sediment is exported to the deep ocean or imported via tidal channels and deposited on the marsh platform is critical to understanding the long-term response of the marsh to wave aOceanographic measurements collected in the Stillaguamish River Delta, Port Susan, Washington, USA from March 2014 to July 2015
This data release includes time-series and discrete measurements made within two breaches constructed in a former flood-control levee of a restored agricultural area in Port Susan, Washington. An area of approximately 61 ha near the mouth of the Stillaguamish River was reconnected to tidal flow via levee breaches as part of a larger restoration effort that took place in 2012. These observations weSuspended-sediment concentration data from water samples collected in 2016-17 in Grand Bay, Alabama and Mississippi
Suspended-sediment transport is a critical element governing the geomorphology of tidal marshes and estuaries. Marsh elevation, relative to sea level, is maintained by both organic material and the deposition of inorganic sediment. Additionally, horizontal marsh extent is altered by lateral erosion and accretion. In wetlands within and near Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, parts of t - Multimedia
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Fluvial delivery and wave resuspension of sediment in a sheltered, urbanized Pacific Northwest estuary
The sequence and timing of sediment delivery and redistribution in coastal systems is important for shoreline stability, ecosystem services, and remediation planning. In temperate estuaries, understanding the role of fluvial sediment delivery and dispersal relative to wind and wave remobilization processes is particularly important to address the fate of contaminants, many of which adsorb to fineAuthorsDaniel J. Nowacki, Andrew W. Stevens, Renee K. Takesue, Eric E. GrossmanAssessment of vulnerabilities and opportunities to restore marsh sediment supply at Nisqually River Delta, west-central Washington
A cascading set of hazards to coastal environments is intimately tied to sediment transport and includes the flooding and erosion of shorelines and habitats that support communities, industry, infrastructure, and ecosystem functions (for example, habitats critical to fisheries). This report summarizes modeling and measurement data used to evaluate the sediment budget of the Nisqually River Delta,AuthorsEric E. Grossman, Sean C. Crosby, Andrew W. Stevens, Daniel J. Nowacki, Nathan R. vanArendonk, Christopher A. CurranSediment dynamics of a divergent bay–marsh complex
Bay–marsh systems, composed of an embayment surrounded by fringing marsh incised by tidal channels, are widely distributed coastal environments. External sediment availability, marsh-edge erosion, and sea-level rise acting on such bay–marsh complexes may drive diverse sediment-flux regimes. These factors reinforce the ephemeral and dynamic nature of fringing marshes: material released by marsh-edgAuthorsDaniel J. Nowacki, Neil K. GanjuAmazon sediment transport and accumulation along the continuum of mixed fluvial and marine processes
Sediment transfer from land to ocean begins in coastal settings and, for large rivers such as the Amazon, has dramatic impacts over thousands of kilometers covering diverse environmental conditions. In the relatively natural Amazon tidal river, combinations of fluvial and marine processes transition toward the ocean, affecting the transport and accumulation of sediment in floodplains and tributaryAuthorsCharles A. Nittrouer, David J. DeMaster, Steven A. Kuehl, Alberto G. Figueiredo, Richard W. Sternberg, L. Ercilio C. Faria, Odete M. Silveira, Meade A. Allison, Gail C. Kineke, Andrea S. Ogston, Pedro W.M. Souza Filho, Nils E. Asp, Daniel J. Nowacki, Aaron T. FrickeSediment transport in a restored, river-influenced Pacific Northwest estuary
Predicting the success of future investments in coastal and estuarine ecosystem restorations is limited by scarce data quantifying sediment budgets and transport processes of prior restorations. This study provides detailed analyses of the hydrodynamics and sediment fluxes of a recently restored U.S. Pacific Northwest estuary, a 61 ha former agricultural area near the mouth of the Stillaguamish Ri
AuthorsDaniel J. Nowacki, Eric E. GrossmanUnderstanding tidal marsh trajectories: Evaluation of multiple indicators of marsh persistence
Robust assessments of ecosystem stability are critical for informing conservation and management decisions. Tidal marsh ecosystems provide vital services, yet are globally threatened by anthropogenic alterations to physical and biological processes. A variety of monitoring and modeling approaches have been undertaken to determine which tidal marshes are likely to persist into the future. Here, weAuthorsKerstin Wasson, Neil K. Ganju, Zafer Defne, Charlie Endris, Tracy Elsey-Quirk, Karen M. Thorne, Chase M. Freeman, Glenn R. Guntenspergen, Daniel J. Nowacki, Kenneth B. RaposaSimple metrics predict salt-marsh sediment fluxes
The growth (or decay) of salt marshes depends on suspended-sediment flux into and out of the marsh. Suspended-sediment concentration (SSC) is a key element of the flux, and SSC-based metrics reflect the long-term sediment-flux trajectories of a variety of salt marshes. One metric, the flood–ebb SSC differential, correlates with area-normalized sediment flux and can indicate salt-marsh resilience oAuthorsDaniel J. Nowacki, Neil K. GanjuSeasonal, tidal, and geomorphic controls on sediment export to Amazon River tidal floodplains
Mainstem–floodplain material exchange in the tidal freshwater reach of ma jor rivers may lead to significant sequestration of riverine sediment, but this zone remains understudied compared to adjacent fluvial and marine environ ments. This knowledge gap prompts investigation of floodplain-incising tidalchannels found along the banks of tidal rivers and their role in facilitating water and suspendeAuthorsDaniel J. Nowacki, Andrea S. Ogston, Charles A. Nittrouer, Aaron Fricke, Nils Asp, Pedro Walfir M. Souza FilhoStorm impacts on hydrodynamics and suspended-sediment fluxes in a microtidal back-barrier estuary
Recent major storms have piqued interest in understanding the responses of estuarine hydrodynamics and sediment transport to these events. To that end, flow velocity, wave characteristics, and suspended-sediment concentration (SSC) were measured for 11 months at eight locations in Chincoteague Bay, MD/VA, USA, a shallow back-barrier estuary. Daily breezes and episodic storms generated sediment-resAuthorsDaniel J. Nowacki, Neil K. GanjuSummary of oceanographic and water-quality measurements in Chincoteague Bay, Maryland and Virginia, 2014–15
U.S. Geological Survey scientists and technical support staff measured oceanographic, waterquality, seabed-elevation-change, and meteorological parameters in Chincoteague Bay, Maryland and Virginia, during the period of August 13, 2014, to July 14, 2015, as part of the Estuarine Physical Response to Storms project (GS2–2D) supported by the Department of the Interior Hurricane Sandy recovery prograAuthorsSteven E. Suttles, Neil K. Ganju, Sandra M. Brosnahan, Ellyn T. Montgomery, Patrick J. Dickhudt, Alexis Beudin, Daniel J. Nowacki, Marinna A. MartiniSpectral wave dissipation by submerged aquatic vegetation in a back-barrier estuary
Submerged aquatic vegetation is generally thought to attenuate waves, but this interaction remains poorly characterized in shallow-water field settings with locally generated wind waves. Better quantification of wave–vegetation interaction can provide insight to morphodynamic changes in a variety of environments and also is relevant to the planning of nature-based coastal protection measures. TowaAuthorsDaniel J. Nowacki, Alexis Beudin, Neil K. GanjuQuantification of storm-induced bathymetric change in a back-barrier estuary
Geomorphology is a fundamental control on ecological and economic function of estuaries. However, relative to open coasts, there has been little quantification of storm-induced bathymetric change in back-barrier estuaries. Vessel-based and airborne bathymetric mapping can cover large areas quickly, but change detection is difficult because measurement errors can be larger than the actual changes oAuthorsNeil K. Ganju, Steven E. Suttles, Alexis Beudin, Daniel J. Nowacki, Jennifer L. Miselis, Brian D. Andrews - News