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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.

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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: 621
Studying Recent Tsunami Deposits in Icy Bay, Alaska

Studying Recent Tsunami Deposits in Icy Bay, Alaska

On October 17, 2015, a rain-soaked mountainside slid into Taan Fiord on Icy Bay, sending a giant wave more than 500 feet up the opposite slope.

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Preparing for El Niño Using Climate Change Forecasts

Preparing for El Niño Using Climate Change Forecasts

Most years, USGS research geologist Patrick Barnard and his colleagues quietly develop detailed coastal hazard forecasts that include the effects of...

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Shoemaker Awards for “From Icefield to Ocean” and the Coastal and Marine Geology Program Web Site

Shoemaker Awards for “From Icefield to Ocean” and the Coastal and Marine Geology Program Web Site

The Eugene M. Shoemaker Award for Communications Excellence recognizes USGS products that demonstrate extraordinary effectiveness in communicating and...

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50-Year-Old Mystery Solved: Seafloor Mapping Reveals Cause of 1964 Tsunami that Destroyed Alaskan Village

50-Year-Old Mystery Solved: Seafloor Mapping Reveals Cause of 1964 Tsunami that Destroyed Alaskan Village

Minutes after the 1964 magnitude-9.2 Great Alaska Earthquake (see “The Great Alaska Earthquake and Tsunami of March 27, 1964”), a series of tsunami...

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New Maps Illuminate Monterey Bay Area Seafloor

New Maps Illuminate Monterey Bay Area Seafloor

Six new sets of maps reveal the diverse and complex range of seafloor habitats along 130 kilometers (80 miles) of the central California coast from...

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Local Research with Global Effects: Coastal Scientists Study El Niño in Northern California

Local Research with Global Effects: Coastal Scientists Study El Niño in Northern California

Researchers with the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program study coastal hazards like beach erosion and cliff collapse at many locations over years...

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Investigating the Offshore Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault System in Southeastern Alaska, and its Potential to Produce Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Submarine Landslides

Investigating the Offshore Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault System in Southeastern Alaska, and its Potential to Produce Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Submarine Landslides

Like the San Andreas fault, the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault is right-lateral: to an observer on one side of the fault, the block on the other...

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Artificial-Gas-Seep Test Produces 3D Images of Bubble Plumes in the Ocean

Artificial-Gas-Seep Test Produces 3D Images of Bubble Plumes in the Ocean

In November 2015, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center conducted an experiment using in-house...

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An Inside Look at Eroding Coastal Bluffs on Alaska’s North Slope

An Inside Look at Eroding Coastal Bluffs on Alaska’s North Slope

Warming air and sea temperatures in the Arctic are leading to longer periods of permafrost thaw and ice-free conditions during the summer months...

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Sampling Methane Seeps and Plumes on the U.S. Atlantic Margin

Sampling Methane Seeps and Plumes on the U.S. Atlantic Margin

USGS scientists and partners completed a research cruise on the research vessel (R/V) Hugh R. Sharp to acquire sediment and water samples, heat-flow...

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