Images

Pacific salmon make stunning migrations, swimming hundreds of miles from the ocean up inland rivers. After using all of their energy to make this incredible journey and spawn, the salmon start to decay.

Rising sea levels inundate coastal forests across the Northeast and Southeast coasts, drowning tree roots in salty water. The seawater kills sensitive trees, leaving behind a "ghost forest" of dead and dying timber.

Created by ORISE Fellow Ben Slyngstad.

A railroad crossing over the East Branch Penobscot River located at a streamgage 01029500 in Grindstone, Maine

Five ways climate change affects reptiles.

Graphic created by VSFS intern, Louise Johansson.

Hydrologic technicians took a low flow measurement of the Byram River at Pemberwick, Connecticut (streamgage 01212500), when water levels ran low during the 2022 drought.

Coral reefs at Ofu, American Samoa, where USGS researchers are studying coral resilience to rising sea-surface temperatures, as well as the influence that submarine groundwater discharge may have on coral reef health.

Five ways climate change affects fish.

Infographic created by VSFS intern, Louise Johansson. Icons from Integration and Application Network | University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (umces.edu)

Aunt Betty Pond Inlet, Acadia National Park, Maine. Photo taken in the mid of summer.

An orange inflatable raft containing water sampling equipment sits on the shore of a recreational lake at Rapp Park and Recreation Area, Iowa.

Mountain goat standing next to a mostly frozen, high-elevation lake in Glacier National Park, Montana. 

Street flooding at high tide during a storm event on January 17, 2022, at Crescent Beach in Niantic, Connecticut.

Kudzu (genus Pueraria) is an invasive vine introduced to the United States from southeast Asia. 

Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge lies at the southern end of Ruby Valley in northeast Nevada. For more information visit the Ruby Lake NWR website.

Sunset on Lake Ontario aboard the USGS Great Lakes Science Center’s R/V Kaho. Photo credit: Thomas SanFilippo, USGS.

Five tule white-fronted geese take off from Summer Lake Wildlife Area, the primary stopover site for this species on its fall migration.

A scenic view of the Beaufort Sea, Alaska. This study site will evaluate the nearshore marine feeding areas of breeding adult red-throated loons and assess the response of loon reproductive success and nutritional content of nearshore fish communities.

A map showing North America's tropical-to-temperate transition zone. Red, orange, and yellow depict the more tropical zones, and blues depict the more temperate zones, based on to the coldest recorded temperature for each area between 1980 and 2009.

 Winter temperature extremes control the distributions of subtropical fishes. Common snook (Centropomus undecimalis), aggregate at a spring in northern Florida during winter. Snook are warm saltwater game fish, common in Florida, that have been moving further northward as extreme cold spells become less frequent and less intense.

A concrete-lined stretch of the Los Angeles River that runs near Sepulveda Dam.  USGS streamgage 11092450 can be seen in the lower left along the river wall. Restoration is planned for this stretch of the river that runs through the San Fernando Valley.

Bunnel Brook at USGS streamgage 01188000 near Burlington, Connecticut with snow covered banks flowing during the winter.

Profile photo of John Bradford, U.S. Geological Survey Southwest Biological Science Center