The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Coastal and Marine Geology Program (CMGP) conducts integrated mapping of the coastal and marine environment to define offshore hazards and sediment processes, support habitat and resource management, and monitor change. CMGP is an innovator in mapping and laboratory analyses, whose expertise is sought by other governmental agencies, educational institutions, and private companies. In turn, we seek collaborative research and development opportunities with similar groups to continually correct and perfect the data collection tools, analytical techniques, and technologies utilized in our coastal and marine studies.
Coastal and Marine Geology Program Internet Map Server: portal to published GIS-related data and maps
Lidar for Science and Resource Management: aircraft-mounted light detection and ranging (lidar) and multi-spectral imaging to map coastal-marine and terrestrial environments
Advanced Remote Sensing Methods for Coastal Science and Management: characterizing and classifying features on the seafloor using data collected by both airborne and underwater instrumentation; ATRIS, topographic complexity, coral fluorescence
Louisiana Sedimentary and Environmental Database: database incorporates a wide range of data types (sediment-sample logs and analyses, geophysical profiles, raster-image basemaps, logbooks, etc.) that are integrated with spatial data
Mapping Systems: surficial, sub-bottom, and littoral mapping; sampling (Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center)
More Mapping Systems: surficial, sub-bottom, and littoral mapping; sampling (Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center)
Maps of America's Submerged Lands: provides links to publications that contain maps and the digital data used to create them
Carbon Analytical Lab: utilizes state of the art methods and instrumentation for quantifying carbon system parameters in aqueous samples
Core Splitting and Description Lab: equipped for splitting, describing, photographing, and subsampling of sediment cores and other marine samples
Gas Hydrates Project Laboratories: measures the physical properties of natural and synthetic hydrate-bearing sediments using the Instrumented Pressure Testing Chamber (IPTC) and a modular system of laboratory cells and peripherals
GeoTech Lab: specializes in geotechnical studies of marine, estuarine, lacustrine, and terrestrial sediment. Capabilities include fully automated computer-controlled testing of consolidation, permeability, and shear strength properties as well as non-destructive analysis of whole-core sediment sections using a whole-core logging system. Useful for submarine and earthquake failure analysis
Sediment Lab: equipped to determine the basic attributes of marine sediments
X-Ray Diffraction Lab: used to study the characteristics of crystalline structure and determine the mineralogy of finer grained sediments
CMGTooL: software for processing, analyzing, and visualizing time-series oceanographic data
CO2calc: A User-Friendly Seawater Carbon Calculator for Windows, Mac OS X, and iOS (iPhone): user-friendly, stand-alone application for the calculation of carbonate system parameters
Underwater Microscope System and Grain-size Toolbox: hardware and software for rapid mapping of bed-sediment grain size
Coastal Change Hazards Portal: visualize data and knowledge about storms, shoreline change, and seal-level rise
Coastal and Marine Geology Video and Photograph Portal: Explore Thousands of Coastal and Seafloor Images along U.S. Coasts
Coastal Ocean Modeling: develop an integrated wave, circulation, and sediment transport modeling system
Coastal Storm Modeling System (CoSMoS): generate real-time forecasts of water levels, wave heights, coastal erosion and flooding for a period of up to 3 days in advance; simulates a number of historical storms and hypothetical scenarios
COAWST: study coastal change using a coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Wave-Sediment transport modeling system
Our Coast, Our Future (OCOF): understand, visualize, and anticipate vulnerabilities to sea-level rise and storms within San Francisco Bay and on the outer coast from Half Moon Bay to Bodega Bay
San Francisco Bay Basic Tide Model: run a basic depth-averaged (2DH) Deltares Delft3D astronomic tide model for San Francisco Bay
Seafloor Stress and Sediment Mobility: estimate wave current, bottom stress, and sediment movement
Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR): uses radio waves to map the internal structure of the ground
Lidar for Science and Resource Management - Multi-spectral remote sensing of coastal-marine and terrestrial environments
Multi-sensor whole core logging system (MSCL) - measures geophysical properties of unsplit sediment cores
Sediment Transport Instrumentation Facility - deploys oceanographic moorings and tripods
Spectral Analysis of Surface Waves (SASW) - seismic tools useful for evaluating the stiffness characteristics of soil deposits
Trimming the FAT for Seafoor Research in China—Constructing a Tripod to Monitor Deep-Sea Sediment Movement
Sea Technology, June 2015
Telepresence Expedition Explores Unknown Deep-Sea Areas off of Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands
USGS Sound Waves, June 2015
Imaging Methane Seeps and Plumes on the U.S. Atlantic Margin
USGS Sound Waves, June 2015
Dive In! Explore Thousands of Coastal and Seafloor Images along U.S. Coasts
USGS Sound Waves, February 2015
Getting Out of Harm’s Way—Evacuation from Tsunamis
USGS Sound Waves, February 2015
Mapping Coastal Changes Along Northern Monterey Bay, California, to Aid Planning for Future Storms
USGS Sound Waves, December 2014