Images

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.

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

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

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.

Re-vegetation in the river valley at the Elwha River restoration site. Image available at Olympic National Park flickr site.

Mangrove forest at high tide, on the southern edge of the island of Cù Lao Dung and situated in the lower Mekong Delta, Vietnam.

Reflectors are placed throughout a lidar scan area to help reference where the lidar points are in space. Andrew Stevens, USGS, surveys Capitola Beach, walks past a reflector mounted on a tall, yellow tripod in front of the light blue building.

Knowing how much sand is removed and returned by big storm events can help show how waterfronts, like this one in Capitola, change with time.

USGS geologist Bruce Richmond prepares to deploy a pipe dredge that will be dragged along the seabed to collect sediment.

Josh Logan (USGS PCMSC) surveys position and elevation of instrumentation to measure water level and suspended-sediment concentration in the marsh at China Camp State Park in Marin County CA, adjacent to San Pablo Bay (northern San Francisco Bay).

Jenny driving R/V Parke Snavely from the rear of the vessel in order to deploy an underwater towed camera sled.

Aerial photograph of waves breaking on the fringing reef off Ennuebing Island, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. From cover of USGS Open-File Report titled, “Future Wave and Wind Projections for United States and United States-Affiliated Pacific Islands.”

USGS scientist surveying a beach using a backpack-mounted precision GPS receiver.

USGS research geologist Patrick Limber measuring bluff heights near Ocean Beach in San Francisco, California.

Special camera rig and precision GPS receiver (right) designed to take Structure from Motion photos from a small airplane.

Coastal research can be beautiful, too. Personal watercraft survey offshore of Santa Cruz, California.

Example of a high-resolution seismic-reflection profile collected by the USGS offshore of Point Sal. The profile shows a cross-section of the earth's crust down to about 240 meters. The dashed red lines show the Hosgri Fault Zone, part of a strike-slip fault system that extends for about 400 kilometers along the California coast from Point Arguello to Bolinas.

Example of a deep-penetration multichannel seismic-reflection profile collected offshore of San Mateo County, from the USGS National Archive of Marine Seismic Surveys (NAMSS). The profile shows a cross-section of the earth's crust from the surface down to a depth of about 3 kilometers.

Acoustic backscatter data show the intensity of an acoustic pulse off the seafloor and back to a ship. Brighter tones indicate a strong intensity (possibly harder seafloor?), while darker ones indicate a weaker intensity (possibly softer seafloor?).

State-of-the-art multibeam and bathymetric sidescan sonar systems collect high-resolution bathymetry and acoustic backscatter data.

USGS researcher drills an instrument mount into a reef flat on Roi-Namur Island, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands, in the Pacific Ocean. Photo by USGS.