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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
Connecting Marshes to the Sea—Sediment in the Shallows of San Francisco Bay

Connecting Marshes to the Sea—Sediment in the Shallows of San Francisco Bay

Placing instruments into San Francisco Bay, California, for 6 weeks of gathering data on how bay waters move sediment.

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Message in a Saucer—USGS Drifter Lands on Vancouver Island, Canada, 40 Years After Release

Message in a Saucer—USGS Drifter Lands on Vancouver Island, Canada, 40 Years After Release

Like a message in a bottle, a yellow disk recently washed up on the shores of Long Beach in Vancouver Island's Pacific Rim National Park Reserve...

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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...

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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.

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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...

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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...

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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.

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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...

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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...

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