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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

U.S. Atlantic margin gas hydrates

The minimum distribution of gas hydrates on the U.S. Atlantic margin is from offshore South Carolina northward to the longitude of Shallop Canyon on the southern New England margin. Few wells have logged or sampled the gas hydrate zone on this margin, meaning that the presence of gas hydrates is inferred primarily based on seismic data that reveal bottom simulating reflections, mostly at water dep
Authors
Carolyn D. Ruppel, William Shedd, Nathaniel C. Miller, Jared W. Kluesner, Matthew Frye, Deborah Hutchinson
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Gas hydrates on Alaskan marine margins

Gas hydrate distributions on the marine margins of the U.S. state of Alaska are more poorly known than those on other U.S. margins, where bottom simulating reflections have been systematically mapped on marine seismic data to support modern, quantitative assessments of gas-in-place in gas hydrates. The extent of bottom simulating reflections in the U.S. Beaufort Sea has been known since the late 1
Authors
Carolyn D. Ruppel, Patrick E. Hart
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Analysis of ocean dynamics during the impact of Hurricane Matthew using ocean-atmosphere coupling

The main goal of this investigation is to improve the understanding of ocean-atmosphere coupling during hurricanes. The present work involves the integration of the ocean-atmosphere coupled components of the Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment Transport Modeling System in the Very Short Term Prediction System (SisPI). Three experiments are performed: First, using a dynamic sea surface temperatu
Authors
Liset Vázquez Proveyer, Maibys Sierra Lorenzo, Roberto Carlos Cruz Rodríguez, John C. Warner
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Effect of wave skewness and asymmetry on the evolution of Fire Island, New York

Bedload transport of sediment by waves and currents is one of the key physical processes that affect the evolution of coasts, nearshore areas, and the engineering practices there. Wave skewness and asymmetry, both of which increase as waves shoal, result in a net bedload sediment flux over a wave cycle. The impacts of this mechanism on large-scale coastal and shoreline change are investigated in t
Authors
Muhammed Parlak, Bilal Ayhan, John C. Warner, Tarandeep S. Kalra, Ilgar Safak
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Hydrometeorology and hydrology of flooding in Cape Fear River basin during Hurricane Florence in 2018

Hurricanes are the major flood generating mechanism dominating the upper tail of the peak discharge distribution over the Cape Fear River Basin (CFRB). In 2018, Hurricane Florence swamped CFRB as the ninth-most-destructive hurricane ever hit the United States and set new records of peak discharges over the main river channel and three out of five of its major tributaries. In this study, we examine
Authors
Dongxiao Yin, George Xue, John C. Warner, Daoyang Bao, Yongjie Huang, Wei Yu
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Recent nitrogen storage and accumulation rates in mangrove soils exceed historic rates in the urbanized San Juan Bay Estuary (Puerto Rico, United States)

Tropical mangrove forests have been described as “coastal kidneys,” promoting sediment deposition and filtering contaminants, including excess nutrients. Coastal areas throughout the world are experiencing increased human activities, resulting in altered geomorphology, hydrology, and nutrient inputs. To effectively manage and sustain coastal mangroves, it is important to understand nitrogen (N) st
Authors
Cathleen Wigand, Autumn Oczkowski, Benjamin Branoff, Meagan J. Eagle, Alana Hanson, Rose M. Martin, Stephen Balogh, Kenneth Miller, Evelyn Huertas, Joseph Loffredo, Elizabeth Watson
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 5.1 user guide

The Digital Shoreline Analysis System version 5 software is an add-in to Esri ArcGIS Desktop version 10.4–10.7 that enables a user to calculate rate-of-change statistics from a time series of vector shoreline positions. The Digital Shoreline Analysis System provides an automated method for establishing measurement locations, performs rate calculations, provides the statistical data necessary to as
Authors
Emily A. Himmelstoss, Rachel E. Henderson, Meredith G. Kratzmann, Amy S. Farris
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Modeling marsh dynamics using a 3-D coupled wave-flow-sediment model

Salt marshes are dynamic biogeomorphic systems that respond to external physical factors, including tides, sediment transport, and waves, as well as internal processes such as autochthonous soil formation. Predicting the fate of marshes requires a modeling framework that accounts for these processes in a coupled fashion. In this study, we implement two new marsh dynamic processes in the 3-D COAWST
Authors
Tarandeep S. Kalra, Neil K. Ganju, Alfredo Aretxabaleta, Joel A. Carr, Zafer Defne, Julia Moriarty
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Contribution of deep-sourced carbon from hydrocarbon seeps to sedimentary organic carbon: Evidence from radiocarbon and stable isotope geochemistry

Sulfate-driven anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) limits the release of methane from marine sediments and promotes the formation of carbonates close to the seafloor in seepage areas along continental margins. It has been established that hydrocarbon seeps are a source of methane, dissolved inorganic carbon, and dissolved organic carbon to marine environments. However, questions remain about the
Authors
Dong Feng, John Pohlman, Jorn Peckmann, Yuedong Sun, Yu Hu, Harry Roberts, Duofu Chen
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Earthquake magnitude distributions on northern Caribbean faults from combinatorial optimization models

On-fault earthquake magnitude distributions are calculated for northern Caribbean faults using estimates of fault slip and regional seismicity parameters. Integer programming, a combinatorial optimization method, is used to determine the optimal spatial arrangement of earthquakes sampled from a truncated Gutenberg-Richter distribution that minimizes the global misfit in slip rates on a complex fau

Authors
Eric L. Geist, Uri S. ten Brink
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Deep Sea Exploration, Mapping and Characterization

Elevated levels of radiocarbon in methane dissolved in seawater reveal likely local contamination from nuclear powered vessels

Measurements of the natural radiocarbon content of methane (14C-CH4) dissolved in seawater and freshwater have been used to investigate sources and dynamics of methane. However, during investigations along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Ocean Margins of the United States, as well as in the North American Great Lakes, some samples revealed highly elevated 14C-CH4 values, as much as 4–5 times abo
Authors
D.J. Joung, Carolyn D. Ruppel, J. Southon, John D. Kessler
By
Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center—2020 annual report

The 2020 annual report of the U.S. Geological Survey Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center highlights accomplishments of 2020, includes a list of 2020 publications, and summarizes the work of the center, as well as the work of each of its science groups. This product allows readers to gain a general understanding of the focus areas of the center’s scientific research and learn more about sp
Authors
Sara Ernst
By
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center