Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

We conduct multidisciplinary scientific research in the coastal and offshore areas of California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, and other US Pacific Islands; and in other waterways of the United States.

News

Characterizing Organic Carbon Cycling at a Seafloor Spreading Center

Characterizing Organic Carbon Cycling at a Seafloor Spreading Center

USGS-led Study: Shoreline Seasonality of California's Beaches

USGS-led Study: Shoreline Seasonality of California's Beaches

Coral Reef Restoration Can Help Prevent Flood-Driven Pollution Along Florida’s Coast

Coral Reef Restoration Can Help Prevent Flood-Driven Pollution Along Florida’s Coast

Publications

Characterizing sedimentary organic carbon in a hydrothermal spreading center, the Escanaba Trough

Sediments in critical marine mineral environments are of wide importance due to their preservation of both marine minerals and organic carbon (OC) stocks. However, OC storage and cycling is often overlooked in mineral system studies. This work characterizes sedimentary OC within the Escanaba Trough, a hydrothermal sulfide system off the coast of northern California. By utilizing ROV...
Authors
Hope Lee Ianiri, Pamela L. Campbell‐Swarzenski, Amy Gartman, Nancy G. Prouty

Shoreline seasonality of California’s beaches

We report on remote sensing techniques developed to characterize seasonal shoreline cycles from satellite-derived shoreline measurements. These techniques are applied to 22-yr of shoreline measurements for over 777 km of beach along California's 1,700-km coast, for which the general understanding is that shorelines exhibit winter-narrow and summer-recovery seasonality. We find that...
Authors
Jonathan Warrick, Daniel D. Buscombe, Kilian Vos, Hannah Kenyon, Andrew C. Ritchie, Mitchell D. Harley, Catherine Nicole Janda, Jess L'Heureux, Sean Vitousek

Coral reef restoration can reduce coastal contamination and pollution hazards

Coral reef restoration can reduce the wave-driven flooding for coastal communities. However, this protection has yet to be assessed in terms of the reduced risk of flood-driven environmental contamination. Here we provide the first high-resolution valuation of the reduction of flood-related land-based environmental pollution provided by potential coral reef restoration. Along Florida’s...
Authors
Marina Rottmueller, Curt Storlazzi, Fabian Frick

Science

Information Sheet: Marine Mineral Resources and USGS Studies

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides science and data on offshore mineral resources and ecosystems, as well as any potential hazards associated with extraction. Society relies on minerals for infrastructure, technology, manufacturing, and energy production; critical minerals are essential to the economic or national security of the United States and have a supply chain vulnerable to...
link

Information Sheet: Marine Mineral Resources and USGS Studies

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides science and data on offshore mineral resources and ecosystems, as well as any potential hazards associated with extraction. Society relies on minerals for infrastructure, technology, manufacturing, and energy production; critical minerals are essential to the economic or national security of the United States and have a supply chain vulnerable to...
Learn More
link

Coastal Wetland Vulnerability to Climate Change and Sea-Level Rise: Understanding Ecological Thresholds and Ecosystem Transformations

Eighteen USGS coastal scientists from all four coasts of the conterminous United States are working together to advance the understanding of climate change and sea-level rise impacts to coastal wetlands.
Learn More

Habitat Vulnerability to Climate Change: Identifying Climate Change Induced Mass Mortality Events Across Large Landscapes of the United States

USGS researchers will characterize extreme climatic events across U.S. following a review of case studies of mass mortality events associated with climate extremes including drought, precipitation, freeze, heat waves, and storm events.
link

Habitat Vulnerability to Climate Change: Identifying Climate Change Induced Mass Mortality Events Across Large Landscapes of the United States

USGS researchers will characterize extreme climatic events across U.S. following a review of case studies of mass mortality events associated with climate extremes including drought, precipitation, freeze, heat waves, and storm events.
Learn More
Was this page helpful?