S. Jeffress Williams
S. Jeffress Williams, a senior scientist emeritus, research coastal marine geologist with the USGS Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, MA, has focused his research career on understanding the geologic history and processes of coastal, estuarine, wetland, and inner continental shelf regions.
Biography
He has more than 40 years research experience investigating topics such as the geologic origins and development of coastal, continental shelf, and estuarine regions, as well as Great Lakes coastal systems, Holocene sea-level history, climate-change effects on coasts, and the geologic origins and character of marine sand bodies and their importance to coastal sediment budgets. Williams has led or participated in more than 80 field studies along the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Pacific, Great Lakes coasts, and the Irish Sea, UK and been principal investigator on many offshore geologic mapping investigations. In June 2009, Williams was awarded the Coastal Zone Foundation Award for career achievement in coastal science and the USGS 40-year career service award. In 2010, he was awarded career achievement awards for natural resources research from both the Eastern Regional Director of the National Park Service and the Director of the NPS, one of only 5 such awards presented.
Williams has authored more than 350 scientific publications, including journal papers, reports, and abstracts; and, been a member on more than a dozen high-level national and state science committees including the National Academy of Sciences, National Ocean Partnership Program, 1998 National Oceans Conference, U.S Coral Reef Task Force, Louisiana Wetlands Restoration Task Force, and the Louisiana Sand Task Force. Most recently, he was a lead author for the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, SAP 4.1 report (2009), an assessment of sea-level rise effects on coasts and a lead author on the 2013 U.S. National Climate Assessment report. In addition, he is a frequent lecturer at scientific meetings and speaks often to students, state and local legislatures, and civic groups on coastal hazard and sea-level rise topics.
Prior to his current research positions, Williams directed the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program from 1996 to 2000 in Reston, VA. This involved managing and directing 250 staff carrying out more than 100 research projects at USGS research centers in Woods Hole, St Petersburg, and Menlo Park/Santa Cruz. Prior to joining the USGS in 1983, Williams was a research marine geologist with the Coastal Engineering Research Center and an invited visiting scientist at the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences, Taunton, UK. He earned degrees in geology and oceanography from Allegheny College and Lehigh University
Recent Accomplishments
Education
- M.S., Lehigh University, Geology/Geophysics/Oceanography
- B.S., Allegheny College, Geology/Oceanography
Professional Studies/Experience
- Present- 2010 Senior scientist emeritus, USGS Woods Hole Science Center, Woods Hole, MA
- Present- 2010 Professional coastal scientist, consultant, expert witness
- 2015-2010 Affiliate Faculty, Un.of Hawaii, Geology & Geophysics Department
- 2010- 2000 Senior research coastal-marine geologist, USGS Woods Hole Science Center, Woods Hole, MA
- 2000- 1996 Director and manager, USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program, Reston, VA
- 1996-1993 Research geologist, USGS, PI on Lake Pontchatrain and Louisiana erosion and wetland loss studies
- 1993-1987 Co-cordinator, USGS National Coastal Geology Program and PI on Louisiana barrier island erosion and wetland loss studies
- 1987-1983 Research geologist, USGS, PI on Louisiana and mid-Atlantic mapping studies
- 1983-1980 Research geologist, CERC, PI on barrier island study, Ft Belvoir, VA
- 1980 Visiting scientist, IOS, Taunton, Somerset, UK, PI on geologic mapping Irish Sea
- 1980-1970 Research geologist, CERC, PI on mid-Atlantic shelf mapping, assessing sand resources, Washington, DC/Ft Belvoir, VA
- Expert in coastal and wetland restoration due to oil spills and other natural and man-made event
- Expert in offshore marine sand and gravel resources, including geologic mapping of offshore sediment character and understanding marine sand body history and evolution.
- Understanding the risk and vulnerability of coastal regions to sea-level rise and increased storm activity, impacts due to climate change.
Mentorship/Outreach
- 2015-2010 Affiliate Faculty, Un.of Hawaii, Geology & Geophysics Department
Professional societies/affiliations/committees/editorial boards
- Organized and co-chaired a special session, “Coasts in Crisis: Sea Level Rise and Inundation and the Drivers for Adaptation” for the 2016 AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting (New Orleans, Feb 2016).
- Invited technical expert, Hawaii Sea-Level Rise and Vulnerability workshop (Un. Hawaii, Feb 2016).
- Organized and chaired the ‘Sea-level rise and super storms in a warming world’ technical session of talks and posters for the Coastal Sediments 15 Conference in San Diego (May 2015).
- Organized and chaired the ‘Coasts in Crisis’ technical session of talks and posters at the 2014 AGU Ocean Sciences Meeting in Hawaii.
- In 2013, Williams was awarded a U.S. Climate Change Research Program Certificate for lead-authorship on chapter 2 of the National Climate Assessment, Coastal Impacts report.
Honors, awards, recognition, elected offices
- In 2010, he was awarded career achievement awards for natural resources research from both the Eastern Regional Director of the National Park Service and the Director of the NPS, one of only 5 such awards presented.
- Presented the 2009 Coastal Zone Foundation Award by President Orville Magoon at the ASCE-CSCE-ICE Climate Change Conference in St John's Newfoundland for research career achievement in becoming a recognized national and international expert on coastal hazards and sea-level rise topics
Scientific/Oral Presentations, Abstracts
Science and Products
Coastal landforms and processes at the Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts—A primer
Anyone who spends more than a few days on Cape Cod (the Cape) quickly becomes a coastal geologist, quickly learning the rhythms of daily tides and the seasonal cycles of beaches growing and being swept away by storms; swimmers and surfers track how the breakers appear, and dog-walkers notice the hard-packed sand blanketed overnight by an airy...
Giese, Graham S.; Williams, S. Jeffress; Adams, Mark
The potential for sea-level-rise-induced barrier island loss: Insights from the Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana, USA
As sea level rises and hurricanes become more intense, barrier islands around the world become increasingly vulnerable to conversion from self-sustaining migrating landforms to submerging or subaqueous sand bodies. To explore the mechanism by which such state changes occur and to assess the factors leading to island disintegration, we develop a...
Moore, Laura J.; Patsch, Kiki; List, Jeffrey H.; Williams, S. Jeffress Introduction to the special issue on “Understanding and predicting change in the coastal ecosystems of the northern Gulf of Mexico”
The coastal region of the northern Gulf of Mexico owes its current landscape structure to an array of tectonic, erosional and depositional, climatic, geochemical, hydrological, ecological, and human processes that have resulted in some of the world's most complex, dynamic, productive, and threatened ecosystems. Catastrophic hurricane landfalls,...
Brock, John C.; Barras, John A.; Williams, S. Jeffress Character of shell beds flanking Herod Point Shoal, southeastern Long Island Sound, New York
High biogenic productivity, strong tidal currents, shoal topography, and short transport distances combine to favor shell-bed formation along the lower flanks of a cape-associated shoal off Herod Point on Long Island, New York. This shell bed has a densely packed, clast-supported fabric composed largely of undegraded surf clam (Spisula solidissima...
Poppe, Lawrence J.; Williams, S. Jeffress; Babb, Ivar G.
Coastal vulnerability assessment of the Northern Gulf of Mexico to sea-level rise and coastal change
A coastal vulnerability index (CVI) was used to map the relative vulnerability of the coast to future sea-level rise along the Northern Gulf of Mexico from Galveston, TX, to Panama City, FL. The CVI ranks the following in terms of their physical contribution to sea-level rise-related coastal change: geomorphology, regional coastal slope, rate of...
Pendleton, E.A.; Barras, J.A.; Williams, S.J.; Twichell, D.C. Estuarine sediment transport by gravity-driven movement of the nepheloid layer, Long Island Sound
Interpretation of sidescan-sonar imagery provides evidence that down-slope gravity-driven movement of the nepheloid layer constitutes an important mode of transporting sediment into the basins of north-central Long Island Sound, a major US East Coast estuary. In the Western Basin, this transport mechanism has formed dendritic drainage systems...
Poppe, L.J.; McMullen, K.Y.; Williams, S.J.; Crocker, J.M.; Doran, E.F. Geologic effects and coastal vulnerability to sea-level rise, erosion, and storms
A combination of natural and human factors are driving coastal change and making coastal regions and populations increasingly vulnerable. Sea level, a major agent of coastal erosion, has varied greatly from -120 m below present during glacial period low-stands to + 4 to 6 m above present during interglacial warm periods. Geologic and tide gauge...
Williams, S.J.; Gutierrez, B.T.; Thieler, E.R.; Pendleton, E. Quaternary geology and sedimentary processes in the vicinity of Six Mile Reef, eastern Long Island Sound
Six Mile Reef, a sandy, 22-m-high shoal trending east-west and located about 7.8 km off the Connecticut coast, has a core of postglacial marine deltaic deposits mantled by tidally reworked modern sediments. Sedimentary environments off the eastern end of the shoal are characterized by processes associated with long-term erosion or nondeposition, a...
Poppe, L.J.; Williams, S.J.; Moser, M.S.; Forfinski, N.A.; Stewart, H.F.; Doran, E.F. Seabed mapping and characterization of sediment variability using the usSEABED data base
We present a methodology for statistical analysis of randomly located marine sediment point data, and apply it to the US continental shelf portions of usSEABED mean grain size records. The usSEABED database, like many modern, large environmental datasets, is heterogeneous and interdisciplinary. We statistically test the database as a source of...
Goff, J.A.; Jenkins, C.J.; Jeffress, Williams S.
Surficial sediment character of the Louisiana offshore continental shelf region: a GIS compilation
The Louisiana coastal zone, comprising the Mississippi River delta plain stretching nearly 400 km from Sabine Pass at the Texas border east to the Chandeleur Islands at the Mississippi border, represents one of North America’s most important coastal ecosystems in terms of natural resources, human infrastructure, and cultural heritage. At the same...
Williams, S. Jeffress; Arsenault, Matthew A.; Buczkowski, Brian J.; Reid, Jane A.; Flocks, James; Kulp, Mark A.; Penland, Shea; Jenkins, Chris J. Geologic characterization of shelf areas using usSEABED for GIS mapping, modeling processes and assessing marine sand and gravel resources
Geologic maps depicting offshore sedimentary features serve many scientific and applied purposes. Such maps have been lacking, but recent computer technology and software offer promise in the capture and display of diverse marine data. Continental margins contain landforms which provide a variety of important functions and contain important...
Williams, S.J.; Bliss, J.D.; Arsenault, M.A.; Jenkins, C.J.; Goff, J.A. Modeling barrier island response to sea-level rise in the Outer Banks, North Carolina
An 8500-year Holocene simulation developed in GEOMBEST provides a possible scenario to explain the evolution of barrier coast between Rodanthe and Cape Hatteras, NC. Sensitivity analyses suggest that in the Outer Banks, the rate of sea-level rise is the most important factor in determining how barrier islands evolve. The Holocene simulation...
Moore, Laura J.; List, Jeffrey H.; Williams, S. Jeffress; Stolper, David