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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

The blue carbon reservoirs from Maine to Long Island, NY

In response to the New England Governor and Eastern Canadian Premier 2017 Climate Change Action Plan recommendation to “manage blue carbon resources to preserve and enhance their existing carbon reservoirs,” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) convened a New England Blue Carbon Inventory Workgroup, comprised of a variety of federal, state, academic, and non-profit organizations to devel
Authors
Philip D. Colarusso, Zamir Libohova, Emily Shumchenia, Meagan J. Eagle, Megan Christian, Robert Vincent, Beverly Johnson
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Acoustic ducting by shelf water streamers at the New England shelfbreak

Greater sound speed variability has been observed at the New England shelfbreak due to a greater influence from the Gulf Stream with increased meander amplitudes and frequency of Warm Core Ring (WCR) generation. Consequently, underwater sound propagation in the area also becomes more variable. This paper presents field observations of an acoustic near-surface ducting condition induced by shelf wat
Authors
Jennifer J. Johnson, Ying-Tsong Lin, Arthur E. Newhall, Glen G. Gawarkiewicz, David P. Knobles, Jason Chaytor, William S.. Hodgkiss
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Crustal structure across the central Dead Sea Transform and surrounding areas: Insights into tectonic processes in continental transforms

New geophysical profiles across the central Dead Sea Transform (DST) near the Sea of Galilee, Israel, and surrounding highlands, augmented by static stress modeling, allow us to study continental transform plate deformation. The DST separates a ∼10 km thick sedimentary column above a thinned (16–23 km) crust to the west from a ∼7 km column above a ∼30-km thick crust to the east. Crustal thinning s
Authors
Uri S. ten Brink, Eldad Levi, Claudia Flores, Ivan Koulakov, Nadav Bronshtein, Zvi Ben-Avraham
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

User engagement to improve coastal data access and delivery

Executive SummaryA priority of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program focus on coastal change hazards is to provide accessible and actionable science that meets user needs. To understand these needs, 10 virtual Coastal Data Delivery Listening Sessions were completed with 5 coastal data user types that coastal change hazards data are intended to serve: re
Authors
Amanda D. Stoltz, Amanda E. Cravens, Erika Lentz, Emily A. Himmelstoss
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Development and application of an Infragravity Wave (InWave) driver to simulate nearshore processes

Infragravity waves are key components of the hydro-sedimentary processes in coastal areas, especially during extreme storms. Accurate modeling of coastal erosion and breaching requires consideration of the effects of infragravity waves. Here, we present InWave, a new infragravity wave driver of the Coupled Ocean-Atmopshere-Waves-Sediment Transport (COAWST) modeling system. InWave computes the spat
Authors
Maitane Olabarrieta, John C. Warner, Christie Hegermiller
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Late Pleistocene-Holocene age and stratigraphy of the Currituck Slide Complex, U.S. mid-Atlantic continental slope: Implications for landslide triggering

Considerable effort has been made to link submarine slope failures to changes in local and global-scale environmental conditions, in order to assess landslide hazard probability. Here we provide the first radiocarbon dates of hemipelagic sediment overlying mass transport deposits and inferred failure surfaces of the Currituck Slide Complex (CSC), a prominent landslide scar on the U.S. mid-Atlantic
Authors
Jason Chaytor, Uri S. ten Brink, Christopher D. P. Baxter
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Episodic intraplate magmatism fed by a long-lived melt channel of distal plume origin

In the past decade, marine geophysical observations have led to the discovery of thin channels at the base of oceanic plates with anomalous physical properties that indicate the presence of low-degree partial melts. However, mantle melts are buoyant and should migrate toward the surface. We show abundant observations of widespread intraplate magmatism on the Cocos Plate where a thin partial melt c
Authors
Samer Naif, Nathaniel C. Miller, Donna J. Shillington, Anne Becel, Daniel Lizarralde, Dan Bassett, Sidney R. Hemming
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Horizontal integrity a prerequisite for vertical stability: Comparison of elevation change and the unvegetated-vegetated marsh ratio across southeastern USA coastal wetlands

Surface elevation tables (SETs) estimate the vertical resilience of coastal wetlands to sea-level rise (SLR) and other stressors but are limited in their spatial coverage. Conversely, spatially integrative metrics based on remote sensing provide comprehensive spatial coverage of horizontal processes but cannot track elevation trajectory at high resolution. Here, we present a critical advance in re
Authors
Neil K. Ganju, Zafer Defne, Caroline Schwab, Michelle Moorman
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

State of the science and decision support for measuring suspended sediment with acoustic instrumentation

Acoustic instrumentation can be used to provide time-series and discrete estimates of suspended-sediment concentration, load, and sediment particle sizes in fluvial systems, which are essential for creating informed solutions to many sediment-related environmental, engineering, and land management concerns. Historically, scientists have developed relations between suspended sediment characteristic
Authors
Molly S. Wood, Joel T. Groten, Timothy D. Straub, Dan R.W. Haught, Ronald E. Griffiths, Justin A. Boldt, Zulimar Lucena, Jeb E. Brown, Steven E. Suttles, Patrick J. Dickhudt
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Ecosystems Mission Area, California Water Science Center, Idaho Water Science Center, Southwest Biological Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Central Midwest Water Science Center, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

Incorporating wave climate complexity into modeling lower shoreface morphology and transport

The lower shoreface, a transitional subaqueous region extending from the seaward limit of the surf zone to beyond the closure depth, serves as a sediment reservoir and pathway in sandy beach environments over annual to millennial time scales. Despite the important role this region plays in shoreline dynamics, the morphodynamics of the lower shoreface remain poorly quantified and understood. To bet

Authors
Megan Gillen, Andrew D. Ashton, Jennifer L. Miselis, Daniel J. Ciarletta, Emily A. Wei, Christopher R. Sherwood
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

A numerical investigation of the mechanisms controlling salt intrusion in the Delaware Bay Estuary

Salinity intrusion in coastal systems is mainly controlled by freshwater inflows. However, extreme events like drought, low-pressure storms, and longer-term sea level rise can exacerbate the landward salt migration and threaten economic infrastructure and ecological health. Along the eastern seaboard of the United States, approximately 13 million people rely on the water resources of the Delaware
Authors
Salme Ellen Cook, John C. Warner, Kendra L. Russell
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Forecasting sea level rise-driven inundation in diked and tidally restricted coastal lowlands

Diked and drained coastal lowlands rely on hydraulic and protective infrastructure that may not function as designed in areas with relative sea-level rise. The slow and incremental loss of the hydraulic conditions required for a well-drained system make it difficult to identify if and when the flow structures no longer discharge enough water, especially in tidal settings where two-way flows occur
Authors
Kevin A. Befus, A Kurnizki, Kevin D. Kroeger, Meagan J. Eagle, Timothy P. Smith
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center