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Photograph of flooded airport runway  in Barter Island, Alaska
Flooded airport runway in Barter Island, Alaska
Flooded airport runway in Barter Island, Alaska
Flooded airport runway in Barter Island, Alaska

This flooded airport runway used to be the main lifeline for inhabitants of Barter Island, Alaska, before it was relocated in response to consistent flooding.

Two photos, one shows a man using a hand-held drilling core, the other shows the core of dirt pulled out.
Coring the tundra
Coring the tundra
Coring the tundra

Left, Cordell Johnson drilling and coring the interior of the bluff to ground-truth geophysical methods. Right, a core section filled mostly with ice.

Left, Cordell Johnson drilling and coring the interior of the bluff to ground-truth geophysical methods. Right, a core section filled mostly with ice.

An icy bluff covered with a thick layer of soil and grass chunks off onto the beach below.
Eroding coastal bluff on Barter Island
Eroding coastal bluff on Barter Island
Eroding coastal bluff on Barter Island

Photograph of an eroding coastal bluff on Barter Island on the northern coast of Alaska.

View of a dam being dismantled with heavy equipment, lake behind it is drained and the former lake bottom is being graded.
San Clemente Dam being dismantled
San Clemente Dam being dismantled
San Clemente Dam being dismantled

San Clemente Dam was a 106-foot-high concrete arch dam that was located approximately 18.5 miles from the Pacific Ocean on the Carmel River. It was built in 1921 to create a reservoir to support the growing residential, agricultural, and tourism-related development.

San Clemente Dam was a 106-foot-high concrete arch dam that was located approximately 18.5 miles from the Pacific Ocean on the Carmel River. It was built in 1921 to create a reservoir to support the growing residential, agricultural, and tourism-related development.

Man gestures to a map hanging on a wall, like he's telling a story about it.
Sam Johnson explains details of a fault zone
Sam Johnson explains details of a fault zone
Sam Johnson explains details of a fault zone

Sam Johnson explaining details of the Hosgri fault zone at USGS offices in Santa Cruz.

A man, standing at a table and talking, gestures to maps laying on the table.
Sam Johnson explaining details of a fault zone
Sam Johnson explaining details of a fault zone
Sam Johnson explaining details of a fault zone

Geophysicist Sam Johnson explaining details of the San Andreas fault zone at USGS offices in Santa Cruz.

Boat with open deck at stern, enclosed wheelhouse at bow that sits higher, with many cranes, is anchored in calm waters.
R/V Solstice
R/V Solstice
R/V Solstice

Alaska Department of Fish and Games vessel Solstice carried USGS scientists for three weeks in May 2015 while they mapped 650 square kilometers of seafloor and features beneath the seafloor in fine detail.

Alaska Department of Fish and Games vessel Solstice carried USGS scientists for three weeks in May 2015 while they mapped 650 square kilometers of seafloor and features beneath the seafloor in fine detail.

Computer simulation that shows water depth of a large bay, deeper water highlighted by darker colors.
Colored Shaded-Relief Bathymetry of San Francisco
Colored Shaded-Relief Bathymetry of San Francisco
Colored Shaded-Relief Bathymetry of San Francisco

 This colored shaded-relief bathymetry map of the Offshore of San Francisco map area in northern California was generated from bathymetry data collected by California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) and by Fugro Pelagos (fig. 1).

 This colored shaded-relief bathymetry map of the Offshore of San Francisco map area in northern California was generated from bathymetry data collected by California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) and by Fugro Pelagos (fig. 1).

Boats docked in a marina sit in extremely calm waters in which clouds, sky, and boats are all reflected. Mountains in background
Alaska DFG vessel Solstice
Alaska DFG vessel Solstice
Alaska DFG vessel Solstice

Mapping along the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault required several days aboard the Alaska Department of Fish and Game research vessel Solstice. Here, the boat sits in a marina near Cordova, Alaska.

Mapping along the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault required several days aboard the Alaska Department of Fish and Game research vessel Solstice. Here, the boat sits in a marina near Cordova, Alaska.

Image: Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Image: Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Image: Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Image: Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Image: Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Underwater view of reefs, look like small spiky bushes, with a wave breaking above them.
Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands

Underwater image of a wave breaking over a coral reef on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. This image shows how the high hydrodynamic roughness of live, healthy corals causes friction that induces breaking of waves over coral reefs, reducing wave energy at the shoreline that can cause flooding and island overwash.

Underwater image of a wave breaking over a coral reef on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. This image shows how the high hydrodynamic roughness of live, healthy corals causes friction that induces breaking of waves over coral reefs, reducing wave energy at the shoreline that can cause flooding and island overwash.

Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Coral reefs, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Two people working on the deck of a ship to lower some sampling equipment into the water.
Piston core deployment
Piston core deployment
Piston core deployment

Jenny White and Pete Dal Ferro, engineering technicians from the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, California, deploy a piston core from the stern of Research Vessel Sharp.

Jenny White and Pete Dal Ferro, engineering technicians from the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, California, deploy a piston core from the stern of Research Vessel Sharp.

Underwater, a man wearing a snorkel, fins, and mask swims down to a coral reef with an instrument tied to a tether.
Free-diving to collect data on corals
Free-diving to collect data on corals
Free-diving to collect data on corals

Research geologist Curt Storlazzi free-dives in order to set an instrument on the reef off Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi in March of 2015.

Research geologist Curt Storlazzi free-dives in order to set an instrument on the reef off Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi in March of 2015.

Underwater, a man wearing a t-shirt, board shorts, mask, snorkel, fins, and gloves secures an instrument to a coral reef.
Free dive on coral reef off Kauai
Free dive on coral reef off Kauai
Free dive on coral reef off Kauai

USGS research geologist Curt Storlazzi free dives in order to set an instrument on the reef off Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi in March 2015.

USGS research geologist Curt Storlazzi free dives in order to set an instrument on the reef off Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi in March 2015.

A man stands on muddy ground carrying a piece of equipment in a forest.
Benjamin Norris in the Mekong Delta
Benjamin Norris in the Mekong Delta
Benjamin Norris in the Mekong Delta

Benjamin Norris in a mangrove forest on the southern edge of the island of Cù Lao Dung, situated in the lower Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Ben is carrying a Nortek Vectrino Profiler, a high-resolution velocity sensor, which is attached to a custom-made frame that can be driven by hand into the soft sediment of the mangrove forest to collect data.

Benjamin Norris in a mangrove forest on the southern edge of the island of Cù Lao Dung, situated in the lower Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Ben is carrying a Nortek Vectrino Profiler, a high-resolution velocity sensor, which is attached to a custom-made frame that can be driven by hand into the soft sediment of the mangrove forest to collect data.