Coastal communities on the Great Lakes may experience coastal change, including dune erosion. The USGS and NOAA are developing the Total Water and Coastal Change Forecast at sites like this one in Ontanogan, Michigan to provide communities with real-time information for decision making.
Margaret Palmsten, Ph.D.
Margaret Palmsten is a Research Oceanographer at the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Meg Palmsten joined the U.S. Geological Survey’s St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center as a Research Oceanographer in 2020. Her work is focused on studying waves, currents, and transport of sand and other sediments causing coastal change on sandy beaches, with special emphasis on making observations in coastal environments using state-of-the-art technology and developing data-driven models for real-time forecasting of coastal change hazards at timescales of hours to days. She is especially interested in understanding model uncertainty and communicating forecasts to stakeholders and end users.
Professional Experience
Prior to her present position, Meg spent nearly a decade as an Oceanographer in the Seafloor Sciences Branch of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
Education and Certifications
Meg received her PhD from Oregon State University, her master’s degree from the University of South Florida, and her bachelor’s degree from Eckerd College.
Science and Products
A Case Study Assessing the Cumulative Effects of Deepwater Horizon Restoration Projects on Barrier Island/Barrier Shoreline Ecosystem Resilience in the North-central Gulf
USGS CoastCams
Separating the land from the sea: image segmentation in support of coastal hazards research and community early warning systems
State of Our Nation's Coast
Using Video Imagery to Study Storm Events at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge
Using Video Imagery to Study Coastal Change: Sand Key, Florida
Video Remote Sensing of Coastal Processes
Using Video Imagery to Study Coastal Change: Madeira Beach, Florida
USGS CoastCam at Dorado, Puerto Rico: 2022-2023 Calibration Data
Hourly Sediment Moisture Content, Salinity, and Temperature Measurements for Madeira Beach, Florida, USA (January 25 – August 31, 2023)
USGS CoastCam at Isla Verde, Puerto Rico: 2022-2023 Calibration Data
Oceanographic Time Series Measurements Collected at Dorado, Puerto Rico
Oceanographic Time Series Measurements Collected at Madeira Beach, Florida
Long-term change on barrier islands and barrier shorelines from extreme storms and restoration along the north central Gulf of Mexico coast
Coupled ADCIRC+SWAN simulations of Lake Superior with surface ice cover in February 2020
Laboratory Observations of Oscillatory Flow Over Sand Ripples
SWASH Model Water Level Timeseries at Wrightsville Beach, NC during Hurricane Isaias, August 2020
USGS CoastCam at DUNEX: Timestack Imagery and Coordinate Data
USGS CoastCam at DUNEX: Calibration Data
USGS CoastCam at Isla Verde, Puerto Rico: 2018-2019 Calibration and GNSS Topography Survey Data
Coastal communities on the Great Lakes may experience coastal change, including dune erosion. The USGS and NOAA are developing the Total Water and Coastal Change Forecast at sites like this one in Ontanogan, Michigan to provide communities with real-time information for decision making.
The wavelength and height of wave generated ripples can be more accurately predicted with the method developed in the new manuscript, available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2022.105509.
The wavelength and height of wave generated ripples can be more accurately predicted with the method developed in the new manuscript, available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2022.105509.

SPCMSC staff attended the annual Civic Engagement Fair at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg Campus to welcome students to campus, foster collaborations, and help them find volunteer and internship opportunities.
SPCMSC staff attended the annual Civic Engagement Fair at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg Campus to welcome students to campus, foster collaborations, and help them find volunteer and internship opportunities.
A team from the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center went to Puerto Rico to install new Coast Cams to monitor how the beach and shoreline change through time. These cameras will allow the team to make predictions of how the coast will respond during storms and hurricanes.
A team from the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center went to Puerto Rico to install new Coast Cams to monitor how the beach and shoreline change through time. These cameras will allow the team to make predictions of how the coast will respond during storms and hurricanes.
USGS scientists survey the precise location of a camera calibration target. The surveyed locations are used to georeference USGS CoastCam imagery.
USGS scientists survey the precise location of a camera calibration target. The surveyed locations are used to georeference USGS CoastCam imagery.
Vortex trapping of suspended sand grains over ripples
Shaping the coast: Accounting for the human wildcard in projections of future change
Wave runup and total water level observations from time series imagery at several sites with varying nearshore morphologies
Skill assessment of a total water level and coastal change forecast during the landfall of a hurricane
Developing a decision tree model to forecast runup and assess uncertainty in empirical formulations
Two-dimensional inverse energy cascade in a laboratory surf zone for varying wave directional spread
Vortex trapping of sand grains over ripples under oscillatory flow
Evaluation of nearshore bathymetric inversion algorithms using camera observations and synthetic numerical input of surface waves during storms
Operational forecasts of wave-driven water levels and coastal hazards for US Gulf and Atlantic coasts
Remotely sensed short-crested breaking waves in a laboratory directional wave basin
Modeling total water level and coastal change at Pea Island, North Carolina, USA
Toward a total water level forecast of the Great Lakes
Science and Products
A Case Study Assessing the Cumulative Effects of Deepwater Horizon Restoration Projects on Barrier Island/Barrier Shoreline Ecosystem Resilience in the North-central Gulf
USGS CoastCams
Separating the land from the sea: image segmentation in support of coastal hazards research and community early warning systems
State of Our Nation's Coast
Using Video Imagery to Study Storm Events at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge
Using Video Imagery to Study Coastal Change: Sand Key, Florida
Video Remote Sensing of Coastal Processes
Using Video Imagery to Study Coastal Change: Madeira Beach, Florida
USGS CoastCam at Dorado, Puerto Rico: 2022-2023 Calibration Data
Hourly Sediment Moisture Content, Salinity, and Temperature Measurements for Madeira Beach, Florida, USA (January 25 – August 31, 2023)
USGS CoastCam at Isla Verde, Puerto Rico: 2022-2023 Calibration Data
Oceanographic Time Series Measurements Collected at Dorado, Puerto Rico
Oceanographic Time Series Measurements Collected at Madeira Beach, Florida
Long-term change on barrier islands and barrier shorelines from extreme storms and restoration along the north central Gulf of Mexico coast
Coupled ADCIRC+SWAN simulations of Lake Superior with surface ice cover in February 2020
Laboratory Observations of Oscillatory Flow Over Sand Ripples
SWASH Model Water Level Timeseries at Wrightsville Beach, NC during Hurricane Isaias, August 2020
USGS CoastCam at DUNEX: Timestack Imagery and Coordinate Data
USGS CoastCam at DUNEX: Calibration Data
USGS CoastCam at Isla Verde, Puerto Rico: 2018-2019 Calibration and GNSS Topography Survey Data
Coastal communities on the Great Lakes may experience coastal change, including dune erosion. The USGS and NOAA are developing the Total Water and Coastal Change Forecast at sites like this one in Ontanogan, Michigan to provide communities with real-time information for decision making.
Coastal communities on the Great Lakes may experience coastal change, including dune erosion. The USGS and NOAA are developing the Total Water and Coastal Change Forecast at sites like this one in Ontanogan, Michigan to provide communities with real-time information for decision making.
The wavelength and height of wave generated ripples can be more accurately predicted with the method developed in the new manuscript, available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2022.105509.
The wavelength and height of wave generated ripples can be more accurately predicted with the method developed in the new manuscript, available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2022.105509.

SPCMSC staff attended the annual Civic Engagement Fair at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg Campus to welcome students to campus, foster collaborations, and help them find volunteer and internship opportunities.
SPCMSC staff attended the annual Civic Engagement Fair at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg Campus to welcome students to campus, foster collaborations, and help them find volunteer and internship opportunities.
A team from the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center went to Puerto Rico to install new Coast Cams to monitor how the beach and shoreline change through time. These cameras will allow the team to make predictions of how the coast will respond during storms and hurricanes.
A team from the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center went to Puerto Rico to install new Coast Cams to monitor how the beach and shoreline change through time. These cameras will allow the team to make predictions of how the coast will respond during storms and hurricanes.
USGS scientists survey the precise location of a camera calibration target. The surveyed locations are used to georeference USGS CoastCam imagery.
USGS scientists survey the precise location of a camera calibration target. The surveyed locations are used to georeference USGS CoastCam imagery.