Jonathan Warrick
My research focuses on the intersection of rivers and the sea. Topics include the movement of sediment within and from coastal watersheds, and how sediment can alter coastal landscapes and habitats. Recently these subjects have been addressed in my work on the Elwha River, Washington, where the largest dam removal project in U.S. history was completed in 2014.
Biography
Education
Ph.D., 2002, University of California, Santa Barbara
M.Sc., 1995, University Wisconsin-Madison
B.Sc., 1993, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
Experience
Research Geologist, GS-15, 2016-present, USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, California
Research Geologist, GS-14, 2008-2016, USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, California
Research Geologist, GS-13, 2004-2008, USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, California
Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow, GS-12, 2002-2004, USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Menlo Park, California
Follow me on Google Scholar and ResearchGate
In The News...
2017 Los Angeles Times article, "Highway 1 was buried under a massive landslide. Months later, engineers battle Mother Nature to fix it." about the USGS remote sensing work to characterize the Mud Creek landslide in Big Sur, California.
2016 The Department of Interior and Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, International RiverPrize Finalist, for the Elwha River Restoration Project
2015 New York Times article, “When Dams Come Down, Salmon and Sand Can Prosper” about the coastal changes from new supplies sediment.
2014 National Geographic news article, “World’s Largest Dam Removal Unleashes U.S. River After Century of Electric Production” about final stages of dam removal on the Elwha River.
2013 Elwha: A River Reborn by AAAS Kavli Science Journalism award winners Lynda Mapes and Steve Ringman.
2012 Front-page Seattle Times article, “Dam gone, nature rebuilds Elwha River beach” about sediment transport from the Elwha River during dam removal. August 6, 2012.
2009 Science Daily article, “Sediment Yield From The Tectonically Active Semiarid Western Transverse Ranges Of California” about sources of sediment and sand for southern California beaches.
2006 Environmental Science & Technology news article, “California’s Shifting Sands” (vol. 40, no.1, pp. 6-7) about river sources of beach sand.
Selected Publications
Sediment Sources and Budgets
Warrick, JA, Bountry, JA, East, A, Magirl, CS, Randle, TJ, Gelfenbaum, GR, Ritchie, AC, Pess, GR, Leung, V, Duda, J, 2015, Large-scale dam removal on the Elwha River, Washington, USA: source-to-sink sediment budget and synthesis. Geomorphology, v. 246, pp. 729–750, doi: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.01.010
Warrick, JA, JM Melack, and BM Goodridge, 2015, Sediment yields from small, steep coastal watersheds of California. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies, v. 4, Part B, p. 516-534, doi: 10.1016/j.ejrh.2015.08.004
Warrick, JA, 2015, Trend analyses with river sediment rating curves. Hydrological Processes, v. 29 no. 6 pp. 936-949, doi: 10.1002/hyp.10198,.
Warrick, JA, 2014, Eel River margin source-to-sink sediment budget: revisited. Marine Geology, v. 351, p. 25-37, doi: 10.1016/j.margeo.2014.03.008
Warrick, JA, MA Madej, MA Goñi, and RA Wheatcroft, 2013, Trends in the suspended-sediment yields of coastal rivers of northern California, 1955-2010. Journal of Hydrology, vol. 489, p. 108-123.
Warrick JA, JA Hatten, GB Pasternack, AB Gray, MA Goni, and RA Wheatcroft, 2012, The effects of wildfire on the sediment yield of a coastal California watershed, Geological Society of America, Bulletin, vol. 124, no. 7/8, pp. 1130-1146.
Sediment Dispersal in the Ocean
Warrick, JA, AR Simms, A Ritchie, E Steel, P Dartnell, J Conrad, and D Finlayson, 2013, Hyperpycnal-derived fans of the Santa Barbara Channel, California. Geophysical Research Letters, vol. 40, no. 50488, p. 1-6.
Warrick JA, 2013, Dispersal of fine sediment in nearshore coastal waters. Journal of Coastal Research, vol. 29, no. 3, p. 579-596
Warrick JA and PL Barnard, 2012, The offshore export of sand during exceptional discharge from California rivers. Geology, vol. 40, no. 9, pp. 787-790.
Warrick JA, J Xu, M Noble, and HJ Lee. 2008. Rapid formation of hyperpycnal sediment gravity currents offshore of a semi-arid California river. Continental Shelf Research. vol. 28, pp. 991-1009.
Warrick JA, Milliman JD. 2003. Hyperpycnal sediment discharge from semi-arid southern California rivers - implications for coastal sediment budgets. Geology, vol. 31, no. 9, pp. 781-784.
Coastal River Plumes
Warrick JA and KL Farnsworth, 2017, Coastal river plumes: Collisions and coalescence, Progress in Oceaography, vol. 151, pp. 245-260.
Warrick JA and AW Stevens, 2011, A buoyant plume adjacent to a headland - Observations of the Elwha River plume, Continental Shelf Research, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 85-97.
Warrick JA, PM DiGiacomo, SB Weisberg, NP Nezlin, M Mengel, BH Jones, JC Ohlmann, L Washburn, EJ Terrill and KL Farnsworth. 2007. River plume patterns and dynamics within the Southern California Bight. Continental Shelf Research, vol. 27, pp. 2427-2448.
Warrick JA, Fong DA. 2004. Dispersal scaling from the world’s rivers. Geophysical Research Letters. vol. 34, pp. L04301. doi: 10.1029/2003GL019114. [2004 AGU Journal Highlight]
Elwha River Dam Removal
Warrick, JA, JA Bountry, AE East, CS Magirl, TJ Randle, G Gelfenbaum, AC Ritchie, GR Pess, V Leung, JJ Duda, 2015, Large-scale dam removal on the Elwha River, Washington, USA: Source-to-sink sediment budget and synthesis. Geomorphology, v. 246, doi: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.01.010
Warrick JA, JJ Duda, CS Magirl, and CA Curran, 2012, River turbidity and sediment loads during dam removal. Eos, vol. 93, no. 43, pp. 425-426.
Duda JJ, JA Warrick and CS Magirl (eds.), 2011, Coastal habitats of the Elwha River—Biological and physical patterns and processes prior to dam removal, U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5120, 263 pp.
Measurement Techniques
Warrick JA, AC Ritchie, G Adelman, K Adelmann, PW Limber, 2017, New techniques to measure cliff change from historical oblique photographs and structure-from-motion photogrammetry. Journal of Coastal Research, vol. 33, no. 1, pp.39-55.
Miller IM and JA Warrick, 2012, Measuring sediment transport and bed disturbance with tracers on a mixed beach. Marine Geology, vol. 299-302, pp.1-17.
Warrick JA, DM Rubin, P Ruggiero, J Harney, AE Draut, and D Buscombe. 2009. Cobble Cam: Grain-size measurements of sand to boulder from digital photographs and autocorrelation analyses. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, vol. 34, no. 13, pp. 1811-1821. ***
Warrick JA, Mertes LAK, Siegel DA, MacKenzie C. 2004. Estimating suspended sediment concentrations in turbid coastal waters of the Santa Barbara Channel with SeaWiFS. International Journal of Remote Sensing-Remote Sensing Letters, vol. 25, no. 10, pp. 1995-2002.
NOTE:
*** Computer coding for the Cobble Cam (and other digital grain size) techniques are available at:
https://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/seds/grainsize/code.html
Science and Products
Coastal Climate Impacts
The impacts of climate change and sea-level rise around the Pacific and Arctic Oceans can vary tremendously. Thus far the vast majority of national and international impact assessments and models of coastal climate change have focused on low-relief coastlines that are not near seismically active zones. Furthermore, the degree to which extreme waves and wind will add further stress to coastal...
Using Video Imagery to Study Coastal Change: Santa Cruz Beaches
Two video cameras atop the Dream Inn hotel in Santa Cruz, California, overlook the coast in northern Monterey Bay. One camera looks eastward over Santa Cruz Main Beach and boardwalk, while the other looks southward over Cowells Beach. The cameras are part of the Remote Sensing Coastal Change project.
Using Video Imagery to Study Coastal Change: Sunset State Beach
Two video cameras overlook the coast at Sunset State Beach in Watsonville, California. Camera 1 looks northwest while Camera 2 looks north. The cameras are part of the Remote Sensing Coastal Change project.
USGS science supporting the Elwha River Restoration Project
The Elwha River Restoration Project...
... has reconnected the water, salmon, and sediment of a pristine river and coast of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington. Coordinated by the National Park Service, restoration of the Elwha River included the removal of two large dams that had blocked salmon and sediment passage for almost 100 years. The largest dam removal in U.S. history began in...
Remote Sensing Coastal Change
We use remote-sensing technologies—such as aerial photography, satellite imagery, and lidar (laser-based surveying)—to measure coastal change along U.S. shorelines.
Climate check in our Santa Cruz backyard
For a beach town like Santa Cruz, preserving beaches by mitigating coastal erosion is vital. Surveys conducted now and regularly in the future will help scientists understand the short- and long-term impacts of climate change, El Niño years, and sea-level rise on a populated and vulnerable coastline.
Exploring the USGS Science Data Life Cycle in the Cloud
Executive Summary Traditionally in the USGS, data is processed and analyzed on local researcher computers, then moved to centralized, remote computers for preservation and publishing (ScienceBase, Pubs Warehouse). This approach requires each researcher to have the necessary hardware and software for processing and analysis, and also to bring all external data required for the workflow over the...
National Dam Removal Database: A living database for information on dying dams
The United States has over 2 million dams on rivers and streams (Graf, 1999), and more than 84,000 of the larger dams are documented in the congressionally mandated National Inventory of Dams (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 2015). The average age of these National Inventory of Dams is 52 years; by the year 2030, over 80 percent will be at least 50 years old (American Society of Civil Engineers...
Dam removal: synthesis of ecological and physical responses
Dam decommissioning is rapidly emerging as an important river restoration strategy in the U.S., with several major removals recently completed or in progress. But few studies have evaluated the far-reaching consequences of these significant environmental perturbations, especially those resulting from removals of large (>10-15 m tall) structures during the last decade. In particular,...
Big Sur Coastal Landslides
Information about USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center studies on coastal landslides in the Big Sur area
Commentary: Variability in shelf sedimentation in response to fluvial sediment supply and coastal erosion over the past 1,000 Years in Monterey Bay, CA, United States
A commentary on: Variability in Shelf Sedimentation in Response to Fluvial Sediment Supply and Coastal Erosion Over the Past 1,000 Years in Monterey Bay, CA, United States. by Carlin J., Addison J., Wagner A., Schwartz V., Hayward J., Severin V. (2019) Front. Earth Sci., 7:113. doi: 10.3389/feart.2019.00113
Warrick, Jonathan A.; East, Amy E.; Storlazzi, Curt D.; Conrad, James E. Integrating structure from motion, numerical modelling and field measurements to understand carbonate sediment transport in coral reef canopies
Reef canopies are complex and extremely variable across a range of spatial scales. This variability affects the velocity above as well as within the canopy, and directly impacts the transport of sediment along the bed as well as suspended in the water column. How a canopy affects the transport of sediment is important to understand and predict...
Pomeroy, Andrew; Storlazzi, Curt D.; Rosenberger, Kurt J.; Hatcher, Gerry; Warrick, Jonathan A. Characterizing the catastrophic 2017 Mud Creek Landslide, California, using repeat Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry
Along the rugged coast of Big Sur, California, the Mud Creek landslide failed catastrophically on May 20, 2017 and destroyed over 400 m of scenic California State Highway 1. We collected structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry data using airborne platforms that, when combined with existing airborne lidar data, revealed that the area exhibited...
Warrick, Jonathan A.; Ritchie, Andrew C.; Reid, Mark E.; Schmidt, Kevin M.; Logan, Joshua B. Morphodynamic evolution following sediment release from the world’s largest dam removal
Sediment pulses can cause widespread, complex changes to rivers and coastal regions. Quantifying landscape response to sediment-supply changes is a long-standing problem in geomorphology, but the unanticipated nature of most sediment pulses rarely allows for detailed measurement of associated landscape processes and evolution. The intentional...
Ritchie, Andrew C.; Warrick, Jonathan A.; East, Amy E.; Magirl, Christopher S.; Stevens, Andrew W.; Bountry, Jennifer A.; Randle, Timothy J.; Curran, Christopher A.; Hilldale, Robert C.; Duda, Jeffrey J.; Miller, Ian M.; Pess, George R.; Eidam, Emily; Foley, Melissa M.; McCoy, Randall; Ogston, Andrea S. Do we know how much fluvial sediment reaches the sea? Decreased river monitoring of U.S. coastal rivers
Given the present and future changing climate and human changes to land use and river control, river sediment fluxes to coastal systems are changing and will continue to change in the future. To delineate these changes and their effects, it is increasingly important to document the fluxes of river-borne sediment discharged to the sea....
Warrick, Jonathan A.; Milliman, John D. Rapid, remote assessment of Hurricane Matthew impacts using four-dimensional structure-from-motion photogrammetry
Timely assessment of coastal landforms and structures after storms is important for evaluating storm impacts, aiding emergency response and restoration, and initializing and assessing morphological models. Four-dimensional multiview photogrammetry, also known as structure from motion (4D SfM), provides a method for generating three-dimensional...
Sherwood, Christopher R.; Warrick, Jonathan A.; Hill, Andrew D.; Ritchie, Andrew C.; Andrews, Brian D.; Plant, Nathaniel G. Projected 21st century coastal flooding in the Southern California Bight. Part 1: Development of the third generation CoSMoS model
Due to the effects of climate change over the course of the next century, the combination of rising sea levels, severe storms, and coastal change will threaten the sustainability of coastal communities, development, and ecosystems as we know them today. To clearly identify coastal vulnerabilities and develop appropriate adaptation strategies due...
O'Neill, Andrea C.; Erikson, Li H.; Barnard, Patrick L.; Limber, Patrick W.; Vitousek, Sean; Warrick, Jonathan A.; Foxgrover, Amy C.; Lovering, Jessica
Science partnership between U.S. Geological Survey and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe—Understanding the Elwha River Dam Removal Project
After nearly a century of producing power, two large hydroelectric dams on the Elwha River in Washington State were removed during 2011 to 2014 to restore the river ecosystem and recover imperiled salmon populations. Roughly two-thirds of the 21 million cubic meters of sediment—enough to fill nearly 2 million dump trucks—contained behind the dams...
Duda, Jeffrey J.; Beirne, Matt M.; Warrick, Jonathan A.; Magirl, Christopher S. Coherence between coastal and river flooding along the California coast
Water levels around river mouths are intrinsically determined by sea level and river discharge. If storm-associated coastal water-level anomalies coincide with extreme river discharge, landscapes near river mouths will be flooded by the hydrodynamic interactions of these two water masses. Unfortunately, the temporal relationships between ocean and...
Odigie, Kingsley O.; Warrick, Jonathan A. Increased sediment load during a large-scale dam removal changes nearshore subtidal communities
The coastal marine ecosystem near the Elwha River was altered by a massive sediment influx—over 10 million tonnes—during the staged three-year removal of two hydropower dams. We used time series of bathymetry, substrate grain size, remotely sensed turbidity, scuba dive surveys, and towed video observations collected before and during dam removal...
Rubin, Stephen P.; Miller, Ian M.; Foley, Melissa M.; Berry, Helen D.; Duda, Jeffrey J.; Hudson, Benjamin; Elder, Nancy E.; Beirne, Matthew M.; Warrick, Jonathan A.; McHenry, Michael L.; Stevens, Andrew W.; Eidam, Emily; Ogston, Andrea; Gelfenbaum, Guy R.; Pedersen, Rob Ephemeral seafloor sedimentation during dam removal: Elwha River, Washington
The removal of the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams from the Elwha River in Washington, USA, resulted in the erosion and transport of over 10 million m3 of sediment from the former reservoirs and into the river during the first two years of the dam removal process. Approximately 90% of this sediment was transported through the Elwha River and to...
Foley, Melissa M.; Warrick, Jonathan A. Coastal habitat and biological community response to dam removal on the Elwha River
Habitat diversity and heterogeneity play a fundamental role in structuring ecological communities. Dam emplacement and removal can fundamentally alter habitat characteristics, which in turn can affect associated biological communities. Beginning in the early 1900s, the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams in Washington, USA, withheld an estimated 30...
Foley, Melissa M.; Warrick, Jonathan A.; Ritchie, Andrew C.; Stevens, Andrew W.; Shafroth, Patrick B.; Duda, Jeffrey J.; Beirne, Matthew M.; Paradis, Rebecca; Gelfenbaum, Guy R.; McCoy, Randall; Cubley, Erin S.
USGS geologist discusses erosion at Fort Funston for ABC7 News segment on landslide fatality
On Monday, February 25, 2019, research geologist Jonathan Warrick of the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center spoke with ABC7 News about a February 22 landslide that injured one woman and buried another at San Francisco’s Fort Funston beach.
Moving Mountains: Elwha River Still Changing Five Years After World’s Largest Dam-Removal Project: More than 20 million tons of sediment flushed to the sea
Starting in 2011, the National Park Service removed two obsolete dams from the Elwha River in Olympic National Park, Washington. It was the world’s largest dam-removal project. Over the next five years, water carrying newly freed rocks, sand, silt and old tree trunks reshaped more than 13 miles of river and built a larger delta into the Pacific Ocean.
Time-lapse view of California Highway 1 reconstruction after 2017 landslide
USGS scientists produced an animated GIF in coordination with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) re-opening of State Highway 1 through Big Sur on July 18, 2018.
USGS partnership with Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe featured in new fact sheet on Elwha River dam removals
The USGS has published a new Fact Sheet, “Science Partnership between U.S. Geological Survey and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe: Understanding the Elwha River Dam Removal Project.”
LA Times story about Big Sur landslide features quotes, imagery from USGS
USGS geologists Jon Warrick (Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center) and Kevin Schmidt (Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center) are quoted in a November 9 Los Angeles Times story titled “Highway 1 was buried under a massive landslide. Months later, engineers battle Mother Nature to fix it...
Video shot from drones yields details about changing landslide on California’s Big Sur coast
On October 12, USGS drones collected video footage of the Mud Creek landslide, which buried California State Highway 1 under a third-of-a-mile-wide mass of rock and dirt on May 20.
USGS Monitors Huge Landslides on California's Big Sur Coast, Shares Information with California Department of Transportation
On May 20, 2017, more than 2 million cubic meters of rock and dirt—enough to fill a line of dump trucks nearly a thousand miles long—collapsed down the steep slopes at Mud Creek on California’s Big Sur coast, about 140 miles south of San Francisco. A pile of rubble almost a third of a mile wide buried California State Highway 1 over 65 feet deep and added about 13 acres of new land to the...
USGS maps underwater part of Big Sur landslide at Mud Creek
Scientists from the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center mapped the offshore extent of the Mud Creek landslide on California’s Big Sur coast on July 11, 2017.
Huge landslide on California’s Big Sur coast continues to change
The Mud Creek landslide on California’s Big Sur coast keeps eroding.
New Land Created by Slide on Big Sur Coast is Eroding
USGS analysis of air photos collected June 13 shows that new land created by a May 20 landslide on California’s Big Sur coast is eroding.
USGS maps, measures huge landslide on California's Big Sur coast
USGS scientists analyzing before-and-after air photos have calculated the size of the May 20 landslide on California’s Big Sur coast, about 140 miles south of San Francisco.
USGS helping to monitor and assess huge Big Sur landslide
USGS is collecting and analyzing air photos to help monitor a huge landslide that occurred May 20 on California’s Big Sur coast.