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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

News Briefs: October 2024-January 2025

News Briefs: October 2024-January 2025

Sound Waves Newsletter: October 2024-January 2025

Sound Waves Newsletter: October 2024-January 2025

Photo Roundup: October 2024-January 2025

Photo Roundup: October 2024-January 2025

Publications

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

Hybrid coral reef restoration can be a cost-effective nature-based solution to provide protection to vulnerable coastal populations

Coral reefs can mitigate flood damages by providing protection to tropical coastal communities whose populations are dense, growing fast, and have predominantly lower-middle income. This study provides the first fine-scale, regionally modeled valuations of how flood risk reductions associated with hybrid coral reef restoration could benefit people, property, and economic activity along...
Authors
Curt Storlazzi, Borja Reguero, Kristen C. Alkins, James B. Shope, Aaron Cole, Camila Gaido-Lassarre, T. Shay Viehman, Michael W. Beck

Science

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...
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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...
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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.
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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.
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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.
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