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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

2022 Annual Report

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Mapping methane reduction potential of tidal wetland restoration in the United States

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Opportunities to improve alignment with the FAIR Principles for U.S. Geological Survey data

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Scientific literature and information products produced by Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center staff

Featured Journal Article

Herring River, Wellfleet, MA

Calibrating optical turbidity measurements with suspended-sediment concentrations from the Herring River in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, from November 2018 to November 2019

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Featured USGS Series

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Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center—2022 Annual Report.  The 2022 annual report highlights accomplishments, includes a list of publications, and summarizes the work of the center and each of the science groups.

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Sound Waves

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Coastal and Marine Research News from Across the USGS

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Filter Total Items: 1691

High-Resolution geophysical data from the inner continental shelf at Vineyard Sound, Massachusetts

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) have mapped approximately 340 square kilometers of the inner continental shelf in Vineyard Sound, Massachusetts, under a cooperative mapping program. The geophysical data collected between 2009 and 2011 by the U.S. Geological Survey as part of this program are published in this report. The data include
Authors
Brian D. Andrews, Seth D. Ackerman, Wayne E. Baldwin, David S. Foster, William C. Schwab
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Sea-floor character and geology off the entrance to the Connecticut River, northeastern Long Island Sound

Datasets of gridded multibeam bathymetry and sidescan-sonar backscatter, together covering approximately 29.1 square kilometers, were used to interpret character and geology of the sea floor off the entrance to the Connecticut River in northeastern Long Island Sound. Although originally collected for charting purposes during National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hydrographic survey H1201
Authors
Lawrence J. Poppe, Katherine Y. McMullen, Seth D. Ackerman, Megan R. Guberski, Douglas A. Wood
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, USGS Science in Long Island Sound and its Watershed

Final report and archive of the swath bathymetry and ancillary data collected in the Puerto Rico Trench region in 2002 and 2003

In 2002 and 2003, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), conducted three exploration cruises that mapped for the first time the morphology of the entire tectonic plate boundary stretching from the Dominican Republic in the west to the Lesser Antilles in the east, a distance of approximately 700 kilometers (430 miles). Obse

Authors
Uri S. ten Brink, William W. Danforth, Christopher F. Polloni
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, 2020 Puerto Rico Earthquakes

Geomorphic characterization of four shelf-sourced submarine canyons along the U.S. Mid-Atlantic continental margin

Shelf-sourced submarine canyons are common features of continental margins and are fundamental to deep-sea sedimentary systems. Despite their geomorphic and geologic significance, relatively few passive margin shelf-breaching canyons worldwide have been mapped using modern geophysical methods. Between 2007 and 2012 a series of geophysical surveys was conducted across four major canyons of the US M
Authors
Jeffrey Obelcz, Daniel S. Brothers, Jason D. Chaytor, Uri S. ten Brink, Steve W. Ross, Sandra Brooke
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Geologic framework of the northern North Carolina, USA inner continental shelf and its influence on coastal evolution

The inner continental shelf off the northern Outer Banks of North Carolina was mapped using sidescan sonar, interferometric swath bathymetry, and high-resolution chirp and boomer subbottom profiling systems. We use this information to describe the shallow stratigraphy, reinterpret formation mechanisms of some shoal features, evaluate local relative sea-levels during the Late Pleistocene, and provi
Authors
E. Robert Thieler, David S. Foster, Emily A. Himmelstoss, David J. Mallinson
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Carbon isotope equilibration during sulphate-limited anaerobic oxidation of methane

Collectively, marine sediments comprise the largest reservoir of methane on Earth. The flux of methane from the sea bed to the overlying water column is mitigated by the sulphate-dependent anaerobic oxidation of methane by marine microbes within a discrete sedimentary horizon termed the sulphate–methane transition zone. According to conventional isotope systematics, the biological consumption of me
Authors
Marcos Y. Yoshinaga, Thomas Holler, Tobias Goldhammer, Gunter Wegener, John W. Pohlman, Benjamin Brunner, Marcel M.M. Kuypers, Kai-Uwe Hinrichs, Marcus Elvert
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Semidiurnal temperature changes caused by tidal front movements in the warm season in seabed habitats on the Georges Bank northern margin and their ecological implications

Georges Bank is a large, shallow feature separating the Gulf of Maine from the Atlantic Ocean. Previous studies demonstrated a strong tidal-mixing front during the warm season on the northern bank margin between thermally stratified water in the Gulf of Maine and mixed water on the bank. Tides transport warm water off the bank during flood tide and cool gulf water onto the bank during ebb tide. Du
Authors
Vincent G. Guida, Page C. Valentine, Leslie B. Gallea
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Gas hydrate formation rates from dissolved-phase methane in porous laboratory specimens

Marine sands highly saturated with gas hydrates are potential energy resources, likely forming from methane dissolved in pore water. Laboratory fabrication of gas hydrate-bearing sands formed from dissolved-phase methane usually requires 1–2 months to attain the high hydrate saturations characteristic of naturally occurring energy resource targets. A series of gas hydrate formation tests, in which
Authors
William F. Waite, E.K. Spangenberg
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Sediment transport due to extreme events: The Hudson River estuary after tropical storms Irene and Lee

Tropical Storms Irene and Lee in 2011 produced intense precipitation and flooding in the U.S. Northeast, including the Hudson River watershed. Sediment input to the Hudson River was approximately 2.7 megaton, about 5 times the long-term annual average. Rather than the common assumption that sediment is predominantly trapped in the estuary, observations and model results indicate that approximat
Authors
David K. Ralston, John C. Warner, W. Rockwell Geyer, Gary R. Wall
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Glaciotectonic deformation associated with the Orient Point-Fishers Island moraine, westernmost Block Island Sound: further evidence of readvance of the Laurentide ice sheet

High-resolution seismic-reflection profiles collected across pro-glacial outwash deposits adjacent to the circa 18 ka b.p. Orient Point–Fishers Island end moraine segment in westernmost Block Island Sound reveal extensive deformation. A rhythmic seismic facies indicates the host outwash deposits are composed of fine-grained glaciolacustrine sediments. The deformation is variably brittle and ductil
Authors
Lawrence J. Poppe, Robert N. Oldale, David S. Foster, Shepard M. Smith
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Along-shelf current variability on the Catalan inner-shelf (NW Mediterranean)

We examine the circulation over the inner shelf of the Catalan Sea using observations of currents obtained from three ADCPs within the inner-shelf (24 and 50 m depth) during March-April 2011. The along-shelf current fluctuations during that period are mainly controlled by the local wind stress on short time scales and by remote pressure gradients on synoptic time scales. Different forcing mechanis
Authors
Manel Grifoll, Alfredo L. Aretxabaleta, Manuel Espino, John C. Warner
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Shallow stratigraphic control on pockmark distribution in north temperate estuaries

Pockmark fields occur throughout northern North American temperate estuaries despite the absence of extensive thermogenic hydrocarbon deposits typically associated with pockmarks. In such settings, the origins of the gas and triggering mechanism(s) responsible for pockmark formation are not obvious. Nor is it known why pockmarks proliferate in this region but do not occur south of the glacial term
Authors
Laura L. Brothers, Joseph T. Kelley, Daniel F. Belknap, Walter A. Barnhardt, Brian D. Andrews, Christine Legere, John E. Hughes Clarke
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center