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Scientific reports, journal articles, and information products produced by USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center scientists.
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Filter Total Items: 1339
Strongly-sheared wind-forced currents in the nearshore regions of the central Southern California Bight
Contrary to many previous reports, winds do drive currents along the shelf in the central portion of the Southern California Bight (SCB). Winds off Huntington Beach CA are the dominant forcing for currents over the nearshore region of the shelf (water depths less than 20 m). Winds control about 50–70% of the energy in nearshore alongshelf surface currents. The wind-driven current amplitudes are al
Authors
Marlene A. Noble, Kurt J. Rosenberger, George L. Robertson
The Palos Verdes Fault offshore southern California: late Pleistocene to present tectonic geomorphology, seascape evolution and slip rate estimate based on AUV and ROV surveys
The Palos Verdes Fault (PVF) is one of few active faults in Southern California that crosses the shoreline and can be studied using both terrestrial and subaqueous methodologies. To characterize the near-seafloor fault morphology, tectonic influences on continental slope sedimentary processes and late Pleistocene to present slip rate, a grid of high-resolution multibeam bathymetric data, and chirp
Authors
Daniel S. Brothers, James E. Conrad, Katherine L. Maier, Charles K. Paull, Mary L. McGann, David W. Caress
Trimming the FAT for seafloor research in China—Constructing a tripod to monitor deep-sea sediment movement
Summarizes technical aspects of the Free Ascending Tripod for very deep water, designed by George Tate for joint US-China research lead by Jingping Xu in South China Sea.
Authors
Amy West
Sediment yields from small, steep coastal watersheds of California
Global inventories of sediment discharge to the ocean highlight the importance of small, steep watersheds (i.e., those having drainage areas less than 100,000 km2 and over 1000 m of relief) that collectively provide a dominant flux of sediment. The smallest of these coastal watersheds (e.g., those that have drainage areas less than 1000 km2) can represent a large portion of the drainage areas of a
Authors
Jonathan A. Warrick, John M. Melack, Blair M. Goodridge
Dynamic models of an earthquake and tsunami offshore Ventura, California
The Ventura basin in Southern California includes coastal dip-slip faults that can likely produce earthquakes of magnitude 7 or greater and significant local tsunamis. We construct a 3-D dynamic rupture model of an earthquake on the Pitas Point and Lower Red Mountain faults to model low-frequency ground motion and the resulting tsunami, with a goal of elucidating the seismic and tsunami hazard in
Authors
Kenny J. Ryan, Eric L. Geist, Michael Barall, David D. Oglesby
The influence of grain size, grain color, and suspended-sediment concentration on light attenuation: why fine-grained terrestrial sediment is bad for coral reef ecosystems
Sediment has been shown to be a major stressor to coral reefs globally. Although many researchers have tested the impact of sedimentation on coral reef ecosystems in both the laboratory and the field and some have measured the impact of suspended sediment on the photosynthetic response of corals, there has yet to be a detailed investigation on how properties of the sediment itself can affect light
Authors
Curt D. Storlazzi, Benjamin Norris, Kurt J. Rosenberger
California State Waters Map Series — Offshore of Bodega Head, California
Introduction
In 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, interpr
Authors
Samuel Y. Johnson, Peter Dartnell, Nadine E. Golden, Stephen R. Hartwell, Mercedes D. Erdey, H. Gary Greene, Guy R. Cochrane, Rikk G. Kvitek, Michael W. Manson, Charles A. Endris, Bryan E. Dieter, Janet Watt, Lisa M. Krigsman, Ray W. Sliter, Erik N. Lowe, John L. Chin
California State Waters Map Series — Offshore of Bolinas, California
Introduction
In 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, interpr
Authors
Guy R. Cochrane, Peter Dartnell, Samuel Y. Johnson, H. Gary Greene, Mercedes D. Erdey, Nadine E. Golden, Stephen R. Hartwell, Michael W. Manson, Ray W. Sliter, Charles A. Endris, Janet Watt, Stephanie L. Ross, Rikk G. Kvitek, Eleyne L. Phillips, Terry R. Bruns, John L. Chin
Eelgrass habitat near Liberty Bay: Chapter 5
Seagrasses are a widespread type of marine flowering plants that grow in nearshore intertidal and subtidal zones. Seagrass beds are ecologically important because they affect physical, biological, and chemical characteristics of nearshore habitat, and they are sensitive to changes in coastal water quality (Stevenson and others, 1993; Koch, 2001; Martinez-Crego and others, 2008). Zostera marina, co
Authors
Richard S. Dinicola
Ground-truthing electrical resistivity methods in support of submarine groundwater discharge studies: Examples from Hawaii, Washington, and California
Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is an important conduit that links terrestrial and marine environments. SGD conveys both water and water-borne constituents into coastal waters, where these inflows may impact near-shore ecosystem health and sustainability. Multichannel electrical resistivity techniques have proven to be a powerful tool to examine scales and dynamics of SGD and SGD forcings. H
Authors
Cordell Johnson, Peter W. Swarzenski, Christina M. Richardson, Christopher G. Smith, Kevin D. Kroeger, Priya M. Ganguli
Modeled changes in extreme wave climates of the tropical Pacific over the 21st century: Implications for U.S. and U.S.-Affiliated atoll islands
Wave heights, periods, and directions were forecast for 2081–2100 using output from four coupled atmosphere–ocean global climate models for representative concentration pathway scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. Global climate model wind fields were used to drive the global WAVEWATCH-III wave model to generate hourly time-series of bulk wave parameters for 25 islands in the mid to western tropical Pacif
Authors
J.B. Shope, Curt D. Storlazzi, Li H. Erikson, C.A. Hegermiller
Rapid water quality change in the Elwha River estuary complex during dam removal
Dam removal in the United States is increasing as a result of structural concerns, sedimentation of reservoirs, and declining riverine ecosystem conditions. The removal of the 32 m Elwha and 64 m Glines Canyon dams from the Elwha River in Washington, U.S.A., was the largest dam removal project in North American history. During the 3 yr of dam removal—from September 2011 to August 2014—more than te
Authors
Melissa M. Foley, Jeffrey J. Duda, Matthew M. Beirne, Rebecca Paradis, Andrew Ritchie, Jonathan A. Warrick