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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

Accuracy of shoreline forecasting using sparse data

Sandy beaches are important resources providing recreation, tourism, habitat, and coastal protection. They evolve over various time scales due to local winds, waves, storms, and changes in sea level. A common method used to monitor change in sandy beaches is to measure the movement of the shoreline over time. Typically, the rate of change is estimated by fitting a linear regression through a time
Authors
Amy S. Farris, Joseph W Long, Emily A. Himmelstoss
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Developing a habitat model to support management of threatened seabeach amaranth (Amaranthus pumilus) at Assateague Island National Seashore, Maryland and Virginia

Amaranthus pumilus (seabeach amaranth) is a federally threatened plant species that has been the focus of restoration efforts at Assateague Island National Seashore (ASIS). Despite several years with strong population numbers prior to 2010, monitoring efforts have revealed a significant decline in the seabeach amaranth population since that time, the causes of which have been unclear. To examine p
Authors
Benjamin T. Gutierrez, Erika Lentz
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Contributions to uncertainty in runup forecasts

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides operational forecasts of total water levels (TWL) and coastal change. Uncertainties around forecast TWL are based on the temporal and spatial range of observed beach slopes near the forecast site. This paper investigates other sources of uncertainty that are not accounted for, focusing on four beaches where the USGS has deployed remote cameras, and on out
Authors
Christopher R. Sherwood, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Peter A. Traykovski, Jin-Si R. Over, Erin Lyons, David S. Foster, Jennifer L. Miselis, Timothy Nelson, Erdinc Sogut
By
St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Community for data integration 2019 project report

The U.S. Geological Survey Community for Data Integration annually supports small projects focusing on data integration for interdisciplinary research, innovative data management, and demonstration of new technologies. This report provides a summary of the 14 projects supported in fiscal year 2019 and outlines their goals, activities, and accomplishments. Proposals in 2019 were encouraged to addre
Authors
Amanda N. Liford, Caitlin M. Andrews, Aparna Bamzai, Joseph A. Bard, David S. Blehert, John B. Bradford, Wesley M. Daniel, Sara L. Caldwell Eldridge, Frank Engel, Jason A. Ferrante, Amy K. Gilmer, Margaret E. Hunter, Jeanne M. Jones, Benjamin Letcher, Frances L. Lightsom, Richard R. McDonald, Leah E. Morgan, Sasha C. Reed, Leslie Hsu
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Science Synthesis, Analysis and Research Program, Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program, Volcano Hazards Program, Community for Data Integration (CDI), Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, National Wildlife Health Center, Oklahoma-Texas Water Science Center, Southwest Biological Science Center, Volcano Science Center, Western Geographic Science Center, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center , Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Science Data Management

Contributions to uncertainty in runup forecasts

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides operational forecasts of total water levels (TWL) and coastal change. Uncertainties around forecast TWL are based on the temporal and spatial range of observed beach slopes near the forecast site. This paper investigates other sources of uncertainty that are not accounted for, focusing on four beaches where the USGS has deployed remote cameras, and on out
Authors
Christopher R. Sherwood, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Peter A. Traykovski, Jin-Si R. Over, David S. Foster, Jennifer L. Miselis, Tim Nelson, Erdinc Sogut
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Modeling total water level and coastal change at Pea Island, North Carolina, USA

The DUring Nearshore Event eXperiment (DUNEX) was carried out on Pea Island, North Carolina, USA between September-October 2021. We use a coupled numerical model (Windsurf) to hindcast the evolution of the DUNEX transect and produce a time series of hourly water levels at the shoreline from the model output. In addition to assessing the ability of Windsurf to reproduce TWL, we use model output pai

Authors
Michael Christopher Itzkin, Margaret Louise Palmsten, Mark L. Buckley, Christopher R. Sherwood, Jenna A. Brown, Jin-Si R. Over, Peter A. Traykovski
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Toward a total water level forecast of the Great Lakes

The combined effect of storm surge and large waves is the main driving mechanism that erodes beaches, inundates low-lying areas, leading to millions of dollars in property damage, loss of natural resources, and lives. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) aims to expand the real-time total water level (TWL) forecast provided in the Operational Total Water Level and Coastal Change Forecasts (TWL&CC) to
Authors
Erdinc Sogut, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Andrew Ashton, Walter Barnhardt, Kara S. Doran, Margaret Louise Palmsten
By
St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Wave asymmetry impacts on sediment processes at the nearshore of Fire Island, New York

Effects of wave asymmetry on sediment processes and coastal evolution were investigated using a field data set and a numerical model. Field observations at the nearshore of Fire Island, New York revealed sediment fluxes during various wave energy levels. The preliminary results indicate a strong correlation between the wave asymmetry and the onshore bedload fluxes. The model results captured the o
Authors
M. S. Parlak, B. U. Ayhan, John C. Warner, Tarandeep Kalra, Ilgar Safak
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Processes controlling coastal erosion along Cape Cod Bay, MA

Cape Cod Bay, MA, is a semi-enclosed embayment in the northeastern United States, open on the north to the Gulf of Maine. The coastline experiences impacts typically from strong Nor’easter storms that occur in the late fall or winter months, with some sections of this coastline being affected more severely than others. We investigate the processes that cause spatial variability in storm impacts by
Authors
John C. Warner, Laura L. Brothers, Emily A. Himmelstoss, Christopher R. Sherwood, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, David S. Foster, Amy S. Farris
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Temporal variability of runup and total water level on Cape Cod sandy beaches

In the present study, we evaluate the temporal variability in runup and total water level for sandy beaches along Cape Cod (Massachusetts, USA), and their impact on dune and beach erosion. We use a 43-year hindcast of waves and water levels and calculate runup and total water level based on the Stockdon formulation using previously extracted beach slopes. The dominant components of the runup are i
Authors
Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Christopher R. Sherwood, B.O. Blanton, Jin-Si R. Over, Peter A. Traykovski, Erdinc Sogut
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Increased utilization of storm surge barriers: A research agenda on estuary impacts

Rising coastal flood risk and recent disasters are driving interest in the construction of gated storm surge barriers worldwide, with current studies recommending barriers for at least 11 estuaries in the United States alone. Surge barriers partially block estuary-ocean exchange with infrastructure across an estuary or its inlet and include gated areas that are closed only during flood events. The
Authors
Philip M. Orton, David K. Ralston, Bram C. van Prooijen, David Secor, Neil K. Ganju, Ziyu Chen, Sarah Fernald, Bennett Brooks, Kristin Marcell
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Development and application of a coastal change likelihood assessment for the northeast region, Maine to Virginia

Coastal resources are increasingly affected by erosion, extreme weather events, sea level rise, tidal flooding, and other potential hazards related to climate change. These hazards have varying effects on coastal landscapes because of the compounding of geologic, oceanographic, ecologic, and socioeconomic factors that exist at a given location. An assessment framework is introduced in this report
Authors
Elizabeth A. Pendleton, Erika Lentz, Travis K. Sterne, Rachel E. Henderson
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center