Images

Physical Scientist Michelle Leung and Research Geologist Natalie Kehrwald prepare sediment samples from Santa Fe Lake, New Mexico to analyze records of interactions between past fires and human activity over the last few thousand years. 

Sand Island, one of the first islands on the atoll to have successfully eradicated coconut palms, which were quickly replaced by a healthy Pisonia forest with abundant shorebird life.  

A view of the shoreline with palm trees above bright blue water in the Western Lagoon, Palmyra Atoll.

Aerial view of the Palmyra Atoll, looking west. The forested island is surrounded by blue water.

A recently treated stand of coconut palms, standing and dead, which will naturally convert back to Pisonia forest, on Palmyra Atoll. 

Pisonia forest where coconuts have already been eradicated on Palmyra Atoll. The forest is lush and green.

A view of the sandy north shore of Palmyra Atoll, with a forested edge. Recently killed coconut palm trunks poke out of the forested area.

A White Tern and a Red-Footed Booby share some shade under a tree. The White Tern flies while the Booby sits below. 

Calm, clear and bright blue waters of a small shoreline lagoon on Palmyra Atoll.

Crystal clear, turquoise waters surrounding a palm-lined beach on Palmyra Atoll. 

Calm, blue waters surround Palmyra Atoll. This view takes in the ocean scenery with a partial glimpse of lush green coastal vegetation on the landward side.

Driftwood lays partially submerged in clear blue water on sandy shore of Palmyra Atoll. 

Gulkana Glacier area change, from 1957 - 2021. Gulkana Glacier is located along the south flank of the eastern Alaska Range.

Lemon Creek Glacier area change, 1948 - 2021. Lemon Creek Glacier is located at the southernmost tip of the Juneau Icefield in Southeast Alaska, USA, approximately 6.5 km northeast of the city of Juneau

South Cascade Glacier area change, 1970 - 2021.  South Cascade Glacier located in a north-northwest facing valley near the crest of the Cascade Range in northwest Washington state.

Wolverine Glacier area change, 1950 - 2020. Wolverine Glacier is in the Kenai Mountains on the coast of south-central Alaska. 

The cold never bothered our USGS scientists! They ask – do you want to collect an ice core?

The secret lives of... trees? Trees can live for hundreds and sometimes thousands of years. As they grow, they add new layers of growth – or tree rings – that scientists can study to learn about the tree’s life. The width of tree rings often reflects the factor most influencing growth from one year to the next depending upon where the tree lives.

Time to get our hands dirty! Paleoclimate researchers study sediment cores, which are accumulated layers of mud and dead plant material collected in a long tube, to learn about what the climate and environment of the past was like.

Two species of eyed ostracodes that exhibit eye tubercles and inhabit continental shelf environments. Eye tubercles are externally visible semi-globular structures of the calcareous shell, one in each of the two valves.

Climate change data from the USGS National Climate Change Viewer tool is shown by US state and county for the contiguous US.