Publications
Scientific reports, journal articles, and information products produced by USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center scientists.
Filter Total Items: 1337
The influence of sea level rise on the regional interdependence of coastal infrastructure
Sea level rise (SLR) is placing both immediate and long‐term pressures on coastal communities to take protective actions. Projects in the United States, and in many locations throughout the world, generally involve local jurisdictions raising the elevation of shoreline protection elements, with limited or no analysis of the feedback between shoreline management decisions and the impacts to water l
Authors
Ruo-Quian Wang, Mark T. Stacey, Liv M. Herdman, Patrick L. Barnard, Li H. Erikson
Effect of dynamical phase on the resonant interaction among tsunami edge wave modes
Different modes of tsunami edge waves can interact through nonlinear resonance. During this process, edge waves that have very small initial amplitude can grow to be as large or larger than the initially dominant edge wave modes. In this study, the effects of dynamical phase are established for a single triad of edge waves that participate in resonant interactions. In previous studies, Jacobi elli
Authors
Eric L. Geist
Introduction to “Global tsunami science: Past and future, Volume III”
Twenty papers on the study of tsunamis are included in Volume III of the PAGEOPH topical issue “Global Tsunami Science: Past and Future”. Volume I of this topical issue was published as PAGEOPH, vol. 173, No. 12, 2016 and Volume II as PAGEOPH, vol. 174, No. 8, 2017. Two papers in Volume III focus on specific details of the 2009 Samoa and the 1923 northern Kamchatka tsunamis; they are followed by t
Authors
Alexander B. Rabinovich, Hermann M. Fritz, Yuichiro Tanioka, Eric L. Geist
Mechanisms of wave‐driven water level variability on reef‐fringed coastlines
Wave‐driven water level variability (and runup at the shoreline) is a significant cause of coastal flooding induced by storms. Wave runup is challenging to predict, particularly along tropical coral reef‐fringed coastlines due to the steep bathymetric profiles and large bottom roughness generated by reef organisms, which can violate assumptions in conventional models applied to open sandy coastlin
Authors
Mark L. Buckley, Ryan J. Lowe, Jeff E. Hansen, Ap R. van Dongeren, Curt D. Storlazzi
Most atolls will be uninhabitable by the mid-21st century because of sea-level rise exacerbating wave-driven flooding
Sea levels are rising, with the highest rates in the tropics, where thousands of low-lying coral atoll islands are located. Most studies on the resilience of these islands to sea-level rise have projected that they will experience minimal inundation impacts until at least the end of the 21st century. However, these have not taken into account the additional hazard of wave-driven overwash or its im
Authors
Curt D. Storlazzi, Stephen B. Gingerich, Ap van Dongeren, Olivia Cheriton, Peter W. Swarzenski, Ellen Quataert, Clifford I. Voss, Donald W. Field, Hariharasubramanian Annamalai, Greg A. Piniak, Robert T. McCall
California State Waters Map Series — Offshore of Point Conception, California
IntroductionIn 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), designed to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats, and geology within the 3-nautical-mile limit of California’s State Waters. The CSMP approach is to create highly detailed seafloor maps through collection, integration, interpre
Authors
Samuel Y. Johnson, Peter Dartnell, Guy R. Cochrane, Stephen R. Hartwell, Nadine E. Golden, Rikk Kvitek, Clifton W. Davenport
California State Waters Map Series — Offshore of Gaviota, California
IntroductionIn 2007, the California Ocean Protection Council initiated the California Seafloor Mapping Program (CSMP), designed to create a comprehensive seafloor map of high-resolution bathymetry, marine benthic habitats, and geology within the 3-nautical-mile limit of California’s State Waters. The CSMP approach is to create highly detailed seafloor maps through collection, integration, interpre
Authors
Samuel Y. Johnson, Peter Dartnell, Guy R. Cochrane, Stephen R. Hartwell, Nadine E. Golden, Rikk Kvitek, Clifton W. Davenport
Carbonate system parameters of an algal-dominated reef along west Maui
Constraining coral reef metabolism and carbon chemistry dynamics are fundamental for understanding and predicting reef vulnerability to rising coastal CO2 concentrations and decreasing seawater pH. However, few studies exist along reefs occupying densely inhabited shorelines with known input from land-based sources of pollution. The shallow coral reefs off Kahekili, West Maui, are exposed to nutri
Authors
Nancy G. Prouty, Kimberly K. Yates, Nathan A. Smiley, Christopher Gallagher, Olivia Cheriton, Curt D. Storlazzi
Benthic assemblages of mega epifauna on the Oregon continental margin
Environmental assessment studies are usually required by a country's administration before issuing permits for any industrial activities. One of the goals of such environmental assessment studies is to highlight species assemblages and habitat composition that could make the targeted area unique. A section of the Oregon continental slope that had not been previously explored was targeted for the d
Authors
Lenaïg G. Hemery, Sarah K. Henkel, Guy R. Cochrane
Wave attenuation across a tidal marsh in San Francisco Bay
Wave attenuation is a central process in the mechanics of a healthy salt marsh. Understanding how wave attenuation varies with vegetation and hydrodynamic conditions informs models of other marsh processes that are a function of wave energy (e.g. sediment transport) and allows for the incorporation of marshes into coastal protection plans. Here, we examine the evolution of wave height across a tid
Authors
Madeline R. Foster-Martinez, Jessica R. Lacy, Matthew C. Ferner, Evan A. Variano
Nonhydrostatic and surfbeat model predictions of extreme wave run-up in fringing reef environments
The accurate prediction of extreme wave run-up is important for effective coastal engineering design and coastal hazard management. While run-up processes on open sandy coasts have been reasonably well-studied, very few studies have focused on understanding and predicting wave run-up at coral reef-fronted coastlines. This paper applies the short-wave resolving, Nonhydrostatic (XB-NH) and short-wav
Authors
Christopher H. Lashley, Dano Roelvink, Ap R. van Dongeren, Mark L. Buckley, Ryan J. Lowe
Developing Foram-AMBI for biomonitoring in the Mediterranean: Species assignments to ecological categories
Most environmental bio-monitoring methods using the species composition of marine faunas define the Ecological Quality Status of soft bottom ecosystems based on the relative proportions of species assigned to a limited number of ecological categories. In this study we analyse the distribution patterns of benthic foraminifera in the Mediterranean as a function of organic carbon gradients on the bas
Authors
Frans Jorissen, Maria P. Nardelli, Ahuva Almogi-Labin, Christine Barras, Luisa Bergamin, Erica Bicchi, Akram El Kateb, Luciana Ferraro, Mary McGann, Caterina Morigi, Elena Romano, Anna Sabattini, Magali Schweizer, Silvia Spezzaferri