USC Sea Grant Announces New 2026-2028 Funded Research Projects Aimed at Solving Problems of the Urban Ocean
The USC Sea Grant Program is excited to announce five newly funded research projects. Funded through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the projects will run for two years (2026-2028). USC Sea Grant’s “Urban Ocean” research program supports projects directed at solving the particular problems associated with urbanization on and adjacent to the coastal zone. The program’s overall aims are to foster the use of sound scientific information to advance our understanding of coastal and ocean resources, to examine the ways we conserve and use these resources, and to support tools for evaluating the issues and socio-economic trade-offs that comprise coastal decision-making. USC Sea Grant works closely with funded researchers to ensure research results have a broad reach across California constituencies.
Read more about our five 2026-2028 projects below.
Fire to Water:
Using Satellites to Understand Coastal Water Quality Impacts Following Wildfire Events
Over the past century, wildfire risk in California has surged due to a combination of urbanization, anthropogenic influence, and climate. In turn, ecosystems, including aquatic habitats, have been drastically impacted. While several studies have documented the impact of wildfires on streams and freshwater runoff in California, wildfires are understudied as major sources of land-based nutrient and other contamination to the ocean. Further, there is little research on oceanic impact and response to major fire-related inputs. USC Sea Grant has funded a study that will use satellite-derived remote sensing data to assess the impacts of wildfires on regional coastal water quality at high temporal and spatial scales. The project aims to monitor stormwater runoff and coastal waters in fire-impacted and reference areas, conduct analyses to reveal interactions between satellite imagery and the drivers of spatial water quality trends observed (in situ measurements), and perform course-based research on satellite detection of post-fire coastal water quality in local surface waters.
This research will provide key insights into the short and long-term impacts of coastal and inland wildfires on coastal water quality by quantifying the resulting turbidity plume extent with respect to precipitation events following the wildfires. This project is especially timely given the need to understand the complex interactions among water quality parameters that have led to the worst Harmful Algal Blooms in recent history in Southern California. The workflow in this research can be applied to other coastal areas vulnerable to wildfires, and will be especially pivotal to communities with less resources for in situ monitoring. Additionally, results from this research can help advise future efforts and regulations around responses to water quality changes resulting from post-fire precipitation – for example, this work could help determine a reasonable time frame for avoiding ocean exposure to microbial contaminants after a rain event.
Principal Investigator:
Jennifer Jay, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
The Statistics of Stormwater:
How Numbers Can Help Improve Coastal Water Quality Planning
Southern California watershed managers rely on watershed modeling to decide how and where to implement stormwater control measures to reduce pollution reaching the coastal ocean. Managers then use these models to make informed decisions about how to allocate their limited resources to achieve maximum water-quality improvement, including compliance with regulatory programs and informing multi-billion-dollar, multi-decade capital improvement programs. Unfortunately, the watershed modeling input used to make consequential management decisions is more than two decades out of date. Specifically, Southern California watershed models rely on a type of data input known as land use Event Mean Concentrations (EMCs). EMCs, originally generated by the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, are a fundamental metric in stormwater monitoring as they provide a practical way to quantify the levels and types of pollution that wash off various urban and non-urban land uses. These EMCs are currently in use throughout Southern California and were generated over 20 years ago, a major shortcoming given that land-use-specific EMCs have undoubtedly changed over the last 20 years due to changes in pollutant sources, building codes, and treatment options.
USC Sea Grant is funding this project to take advantage of the latest advanced statistical techniques to generate updated EMCs for use in Southern California watershed modeling. These EMCs will be immediately transferred to the end-user stormwater management community through the Southern California Stormwater Monitoring Coalition, a collaborative research organization made up of the region’s 18 largest stormwater management agencies spanning the regulated and regulatory sectors. The Coalition’s member agencies have already committed to immediately using the updated EMCs to update their watershed models. The updated modeling, in turn, will enable managers to abandon their investments in stormwater control measures that are not necessary or useful – an anticipated realignment of resources that could save potentially billions of dollars in ineffective capital improvement projects and hasten other effective pollutant reduction measures.
Principal Investigators:
Jessica Jaynes, Ph.D., California State University, Fullerton
Ken Schiff, Deputy Director, Southern California Coastal Water Research Project
Understanding Vibrio:
Monitoring Emerging Pathogens in Our Urban Ocean
Pathogenic strains of endemic, environmental Vibrio species are a growing concern in bays and coastal oceans. Vibrio is a bacterial genus known for the specific species, Vibrio cholerae, which has caused several global pandemics. While the incidence of V. cholerae is low in the United States due to effective drinking water sanitation, pathogens from other Vibrio species are emerging as threats to human health, fisheries, and coastal ecosystems in Southern California. These non-cholerae Vibrio species can cause vibriosis, a life-threatening tissue infection transmitted by contact of open wounds with seawater or from consuming raw or undercooked fish or shellfish. In recent years, infections have spread from the Gulf Coast up the Eastern Seaboard, reaching as far north as New Jersey and starting to negatively impact recreation in these waters. Cases of vibriosis are also on the rise in Southern California.
USC Sea Grant is funding this project to isolate and characterize Vibrio species from Newport Bay Estuary, creating a valuable resource for understanding their variety and pathogenic potential. Preliminary data support the hypothesis that seasonal warming of surface ocean temperatures is correlated with a shift towards species of Vibrio known to be adapted to warm water. The Vibrio populations in estuaries such as Newport Bay are often shaped by environmental gradients that distinguish them from offshore populations, so the project plans to compare estuary data with Vibrio populations at the San Pedro Ocean Timeseries site 10 miles off the coast. By layering high- resolution molecular approaches onto existing environmental monitoring programs, this project can enhance understanding of the distribution, variety, and risk profile of Vibrio populations in Southern California estuaries. By developing a robust monitoring program for pathogenic Vibrio, the project aims to equip environmental managers with timely decision-support tools to ensure safe fisheries and recreational areas in Southern California.
Principal Investigators:
Julia Schwartzman, Ph.D., University of Southern California
Ryan Guillemette, Ph.D., Southern California Coastal Water Research Program
Searching for Sand Bass:
A Collaborative Approach to Tracking the Origins and Movements of Barred Sand Bass in Southern California
The saltwater basses comprise an extremely popular recreational fishery in Southern California. Barred sand bass are a prime target, and pursuit of their summer spawning aggregations is a popular pastime, particularly on chartered and private vessels out of urban ports in Los Angeles and San Diego. Recreational anglers also widely target the species from shore with rod and reel. Unfortunately, species that form spawning aggregations tend to be vulnerable to overfishing, which can lead to critically low population size. Despite more restrictive regulations implemented in 2013, barred sand bass aggregations disappeared for a 10-year period, and the population has only recently shown signs of incipient recovery. Uncertainty surrounding the full extent of barred sand bass movements presents significant challenges for effective fishery management. If long-distance migrations or population linkages between Southern California and Baja California exist, current management strategies— designed around local or regional stock assessments—may fail to account for broader population connectivity and risk another barred sand bass fishery collapse. Addressing these uncertainties is essential for developing spatially and temporally adaptive management measures that align with the species’ true dynamics.
USC Sea Grant is funding this project, which will use the new methodology of “natural tagging” approaches as powerful alternatives for reconstructing movement histories. Previous work has shown that these methods can reliably differentiate individuals originating from different regions. As part of the Marine Life Management Act, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is required to promote the sustainability and health of fisheries and to engage stakeholders in the management process. As part of this mandate, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is convening a barred sand bass advisory/working group composed of members of the commercial sportfishing and recreational fishing industry, research scientists, and non-governmental organizations. Among other outreach efforts, this project will engage with the barred sand bass working group to discuss the project, refine hypotheses, interpret outcomes, and identify next steps for research and management. Answering the question of whether barred sand bass conduct spawning migrations between Mexican and California waters, and engaging user groups early, has the potential to generate greater buy-in around management decision-making for the fishery.
Principal Investigators:
Brice Semmens, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego
Dr. Erica Jarvis Mason, Research Fish Biologist, NOAA Fisheries
Dr. Allison Dedrick, Senior Environmental Scientist, California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Dr. Helen Killeen, Senior Environmental Scientist, California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Dr. Rasmus Swalethorp, Associate Project Scientist, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Doing Dunes Right:
A Nature-Based Solution to Build Resilient Urban Beaches
In recent years, the impacts of El Niño events and winter storms on beaches across the state have amplified concerns about how to manage the impacts of longer-term changes to the coast. Approximately 60% of coastal dunes have been lost due to coastal development and land-use change since the 1800s. An additional 24-75% of California’s beaches could disappear under future sea level rise scenarios. The use of coastal dunes has emerged as a popular Nature-based Solution to improve the protection and resilience of beaches and infrastructure, while also improving ecosystem services. However, science on the design and performance of dune restoration as a Nature-based Solution is limited, and best practices do not exist. A review of coastal adaptation plans in California indicates that many coastal communities want to incorporate dune restoration as an adaptation strategy, but are held back by the lack of information and guidelines for effective design, siting, and implementation.
USC Sea Grant is funding this project to enhance empirical understanding of dune restoration trajectories and responses to disturbance through detailed surveys of pilot sites, and to co-design site suitability and performance assessment frameworks for evaluating dune restoration projects on urban beaches with community partners and end users. This project has direct management and policy applications for urban beaches in California, the Pacific coast, and beyond, developing site-suitability and performance-assessment frameworks for dune restoration projects that can be used by researchers, managers, conservationists, restoration practitioners, state and federal agencies, and coastal communities. Data from pilot site surveys will provide new opportunities to refine and extend coastal vulnerability models (e.g., CoSMoS) and assess the lifespan of existing or restored dunes on urbanized coasts under varying sea level rise scenarios. Notably, the dune restoration site suitability framework and the dune restoration performance assessment framework will be the first of their kind, providing new scientifically-informed tools for practitioners and researchers alike. These products will be workshopped with potential users and made publicly available.
Principal Investigator:
Ian Walker, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara