USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Science Videos
Please watch a selection of videos highlighted below, featuring the work conducted by scientists from our Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center. Also, please visit and subscribe to the USGS YouTube Channel for more USGS videos and updates.
Fly Over the Seafloor
Each video show a virtual fly-through over the seafloor, as if the water was drained from the ocean or bay.
Central California — Bolinas to Pescadero
 The movie flies out of San Francisco Bay pausing over a field of large sand waves west of the Golden Gate, and then up to the Bolinas area revealing folded and fractured bedrock. The movie then turns south flying down the coast past Pacifica and towards Half Moon Bay again revealing folded and fractured bedrock beneath the Maverick's surf break. The movie finishes by flying over very complex seafloor of folded bedrock, fault scarps, and ripple scour depressions south of Half Moon Bay and offshore San Gregorio State Beach. The seafloor is colored for depth with reds and oranges representing shallower regions and dark blues and purples representing deeper regions.
View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or YouTube
San Francisco Bay
 The movie flies through the south and central Bay, pausing over prominent seafloor features including, large sand waves, rock pinnacles, current scour pits, as well as many human impacts on the seafloor.
View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or YouTube
Lower Elwha River, Ground-Based Lidar Fly-Through
 This animation shows a virtual fly-through of a detailed, highly accurate three-dimensional map of the lower Elwha River. The data shown were collected using a ground-based lidar scanner, which uses pulses of light to accurately map the riparian environment.
View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or YouTube
Turbid Bay: Sediment in Motion
 USGS scientists from the Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center explore how sediment moves across San Francisco Bay tidal flats. The research team deploys a suite of large instrumented tripods to record sediment movements over a six-week period in early 2011. Answers from this work will help determine whether deposition of sediment at high tide is occurring quickly enough to preserve marshes in the face of sea-level rise.
The program also highlights the value and function of the USGS Mendenhall Fellowship Program. The Mendenhall Program at the USGS provides recent PhD graduates an opportunity to conduct cutting-edge research on pressing scientific questions with the guidance and mentoring of established scientists.
View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or YouTube
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Tsunami Preparedness
Tsunamis are a constant threat to the coasts of our world. Although tsunamis are infrequent along the California coast, it is possible and necessary to prepare for potential tsunami hazards to minimize loss of life and property. Community awareness programs are important, as they strive to create an informed society by providing education and training. Information and knowledge is the key to achieving (social) change.
These videos about tsunami preparedness distinguish between a local tsunami and a distant event and focuses on the specific needs of each region. They offer guidelines for correct tsunami response and community preparedness from local emergency managers, first-responders, and leading experts on tsunami hazards and warnings who have been working on ways of making the tsunami affected regions safer for the people and communities on a long-term basis.
The four videos below are a joint product of California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA, formerly named OES California), Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), and the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Please also visit our Tsunamis & Earthquakes web pages: http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/tsunami/
 Tsunami Preparedness in Central California and the SF Bay Area
View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or YouTube
 Tsunami Preparedness along the West Coast
View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or YouTube
 Tsunami Preparedness in Southern California
View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or YouTube
 Tsunami Preparedness in Northern California
View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or YouTube
Scary Tsunamis
 Video on July 28, 2009 by Chris Bauer, KQED QUEST Northern California
Is California at risk? In 2004, a massive tsunami struck the Indian Ocean. More than 225,000 people were killed. Bay Area researchers raced to the scene to learn everything they could about these deadly forces of nature. The information they gained provides a 'Rosetta stone' for helping to understand the geologic history of tsunamis and when and where they may strike again.
View video: http://science.kqed.org/quest/video/scary-tsunamis/
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U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, CA
 This short video gives an overview of the USGS Menlo Park Science Center in California. It briefly introduces you to the San Francisco Bay Area, shows the campus and facilities, and includes interviews with scientists describing their work.
Please visit our USGS PCMSC web site to learn more about our team: http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/about/
View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or YouTube
 This short movie provides event coverage of the May 15, 16, and 17, 2009 USGS Open House in Menlo Park, California. The movie is a peppy and fun presentation highlighting how USGS scientists shared their work with an eager public and tons of school kids. USGS employees Christy Ryan, Leslie Gordon, Liz Colvard, and Dina Venezky describe the scope and significance of the event.
Please visit our USGS PCMSC web site featuring photos from the Open House exhibit, "Dress Like A Marine Geologist."
USGS Sound Waves newsletter articles:
View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or YouTube
USGS Arctic Chronicles
The first two videos were shot in 2008 during a five week journey to map the Arctic Ocean seafloor. The 3rd video was made just before the expeditions in 2010, as a project overview. Read more about USGS mapping in the Arctic.
 Healy/Louis Helicopter Overflight
Video shows Canadian helicopter overflight of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy and Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent in the Arctic Ocean.
View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or YouTube
 Mooring Evolution
Video shows overflight of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy and Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St-Laurent pulling alongside each other in the Artic Ocean. View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or YouTube
 U.S.-Canada Arctic Expedition Surveying the Extended Continental Shelf (Overview of Project, with audio interviews)
American and Canadian scientists head north on a collaborative expedition to map the Arctic seafloor and gather data to help define the outer limits of the continental shelf. Each coastal nation may exercise sovereign rights over the natural resources of their continental shelf.
View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or YouTube
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Coast Salish: Tribal Canoe Journey for Troubled Sea
The USGS and the Coast Salish Tribal Nation have partnered during the annual Tribal Canoe Journey to study and help improve resources of the Salish Sea. Learn about it at the 2009 Coast Salish Water Quality Project, http://www.usgs.gov/coastsalish/
USGS Sound Waves newsletter articles:
 Part 1
This first episode in the Corecast Tribal Journey series examines the new partnership between the USGS and Coast Salish people. View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or USGS YouTube Channel
 Part 2
This final episode in the Corecast Tribal Journey gives an overview of the journey, including a look at preliminary results.
View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or USGS YouTube Channel
2008 Glen Canyon Dam High-Flow Experiment, February-March 2008
Read more about Grand Canyon Research. Learn more about Bedform Sedimentology.
 USGS CoreCast Interview: Opening a Dam to Study and Improve Resources in the Grand Canyon
Dams don't help just by holding water back. By opening Glen Canyon Dam's jet tubes for a high flow experiment-scheduled to take place on March 5-scientists can study and improve resources in Grand Canyon National Park. Learn more by listening to our interview with John Hamill, USGS Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Program Chief.
View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or USGS YouTube Channel
The image animations below were created from still-camera images on the Colorado River, showing days of change surrounding the high-flow release of water from Glen Canyon Dam.
 River Mile 3
33 days of change, February 3 - March 29, 2008
View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or YouTube
 River Mile 45
28 days of change, March 2 - March 31, 2008
View video: USGS Multimedia Gallery or USGS YouTube Channel
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U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey