Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

News

News from the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Deep-Sea Studies

A map showing the ocean floor with shades of color to indicate changing depth, nd other demarkations to show various features

In 2022, the USGS and partners embarked on a research expedition to Escanaba Trough off the coast of northern California. The multidisciplinary crew collected samples with a remotely operated vehicle and tested new seafloor mapping techniques using an autonomous underwater vehicle.

Watch Videos, Read News, and Learn More

Sound Waves Newsletter

An animated GIF of a coral reef in American Samoa, showing colorful reef fish darting in and out of the coral

Read issues of the Sound Waves Newsletter, featuring “Coastal and Marine Research News from Across the USGS”

Sound Waves Newsletter
Filter Total Items: 618
Japan Lashed by Powerful Earthquake, Devastating Tsunami

Japan Lashed by Powerful Earthquake, Devastating Tsunami

The magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck Japan on March 11, 2011, was unprecedented in the modern history of Japan, according to scientists at the U.S...

Read Article
Long-Lived, Slow-Growing Corals in Deep Waters of the Gulf of Mexico

Long-Lived, Slow-Growing Corals in Deep Waters of the Gulf of Mexico

Deep-sea coral ecosystems are now widely recognized as biodiversity hotspots.

Read Article
South Bay Science Symposium: Research on the Restoration of Salt Ponds in South San Francisco Bay

South Bay Science Symposium: Research on the Restoration of Salt Ponds in South San Francisco Bay

The South Bay Science Symposium was held at the USGS campus in Menlo Park, California. The USGS is a major player in a partnership of federal, state...

Read Article
USGS Geographer Is Opening Speaker at GIS Day 2010

USGS Geographer Is Opening Speaker at GIS Day 2010

"GIS" refers to geographic information systems—combinations of software and hardware used to capture, store, analyze, and display data linked to...

Read Article
ARkStorm: California’s Other “Big One”

ARkStorm: California’s Other “Big One”

In 1861-62, California was bombarded for 45 days with one strong winter storm after another, causing severe flooding up and down the state.

Read Article
Samoa Disaster Highlights Danger of Tsunamis Generated from Outer-Rise Earthquakes

Samoa Disaster Highlights Danger of Tsunamis Generated from Outer-Rise Earthquakes

Unlike typical tsunamigenic earthquakes that occur on the thrust fault that separates tectonic plates in a subduction zone (termed the interplate...

Read Article
Ground-Truthing Data for Mapping of Seafloor Habitat and Geology along the California Coast

Ground-Truthing Data for Mapping of Seafloor Habitat and Geology along the California Coast

The California Seafloor Mapping Program is a State and Federally funded program to create a series of geologic and seafloor-habitat basemaps for all...

Read Article
Surprises from the Deadly September 29, 2009, Samoa Tsunami

Surprises from the Deadly September 29, 2009, Samoa Tsunami

The Samoa tsunami of September 29, 2009, was the fifth tsunami studied by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) field teams in 15 years, and yet it presented...

Read Article
Catalina or Bust: USGS Group Maps Faults Offshore of Los Angeles

Catalina or Bust: USGS Group Maps Faults Offshore of Los Angeles

Mapping offshore faults near Santa Catalina Island in July of 2009.

Read Article
Erosion Doubles Along Part of Alaska's Arctic Coast, Cultural and Historical Sites Lost

Erosion Doubles Along Part of Alaska's Arctic Coast, Cultural and Historical Sites Lost

The rate of coastal erosion more than doubled in Alaska—to as much as 45 feet per year—within the 52-year period between 1955 and 2007 along a 37-mile...

Read Article