Images

Diadema antillarum, the long-spined sea urchin, is an ecologically important species in Caribbean coral reef habitats where it controls algal growth and coverage and helps keep reef surfaces clear for corals to grow and settle. In early 2022, the remaining D. antillarum populations began experiencing mass mortality in the Caribbean.

Diadema antillarum, the long-spined sea urchin, is an ecologically important species in Caribbean coral reef habitats where it controls algal growth and coverage and helps keep reef surfaces clear for corals to grow and settle. In early 2022, the remaining D. antillarum populations began experiencing mass mortality in the Caribbean.

In May 2016, Susan Russell-Robinson (Associate Coordinator of the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program, third from right) and Dave Applegate (USGS Associate Director for Natural Hazards, left) celebrated with the team whose website “USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program (CMGP, now called CMHRP

Ground-Penetrating Radar instruments are towed across land. Data from this instrument show underlying sediment layers within the dune and barrier island, which may reveal patterns of growth and erosion.

A colony of the soft coral known as the "bent sea rod" stands bleached on a reef off of Islamorada, Florida. Hard and soft corals are presently bleaching- losing their symbiotic algae – all over the coral reefs of the Florida Keys due to unusually warm ocean temperatures this summer.

A red fox trots across the beach on Fire Island with dunes and waves in the background

We collect terrestrial (barrier island) and marine (nearshore and estuarine) sediment cores to ground-truth geophysical observations. These cores are used to understand the history of barrier island formation and erosion.

The impacts of extreme storms can be striking. Here, winter nor’easters eroded sediments from an artificial dune at Fire Island, New York and moved them onto the beach and shoreface. Such erosion created a steep vertical face, or scarp. Erosion and overwash are expected to increase on Fire Island with rising sea levels. 

Though often less intense than hurricanes, extratropical storms (e.g., nor’easters) occur more frequently and their impacts can be striking. Here, several years after Hurricane Sandy, winter nor’easters eroded sediments from an artificial dune at Fire Island, NY and moved them onto the beach and shoreface. Such erosion created a steep vertical face, or scarp.

The Florida Keys reefs have been experiencing a severe disease outbreak from 2014 to present called Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD).

Photograph of shallow-water coral bleaching at Sombrero de Pelo reef in Pacific Panama during the 2015-2016 El Nino event. Because of the influence of internal waves, corals growing at deeper locations at this site did not bleach.

The USGS Coastal and Estuarine Dynamics Group will be deploying a Nanopod at Pea Island DUNEX experiment site to collect oceanographic information.

The advanced circulation (ADCIRC) model unstructured finite element mesh spans the western North Atlantic Tidal domain to the 60-degree west meridian, including the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.

USGS scientist Lisa Robbins next to the research vessel (R/V) Atlantis, which is owned by the U.S. Navy and operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Aerial images of the wilderness breach: a) Aerial photograph taken several days after Hurricane Sandy (photo credit: NOAA); b) Aerial mosaic of the breach in June 2015 showing the location of erosion on the ocean side of the breach and deposition that results in the seasonal formation of a spit (photo credit: Stonybrook University).

Healthy Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) near unpopulated Buck Island, U.S. Virgin Islands. Elkhorn coral is one of many important reef-building species that create 3D structure on the seafloor. Coral reef structure provides habitat for marine life and helps break up waves as they approach the coastline.

These Elkhorn corals (Acropora palmata) near Buck Island, U.S. Virgin Islands have died and collapsed into rubble. As coral reef structure degrades, valuable habitat for marine life is lost and nearby coastlines become more susceptible to storms, waves and erosion.

A diver uses an underwater drill to take a core sample from a massive brain coral (Diploria strigosa) in Dry Tortugas National Park. 

USGS employee Owen Brenner walks across the Fire Island wilderness breach carrying a GPS backpack that allows him to collect precise elevation data in the shallows.

USGS scientist BJ Reynolds sets up a solar-powered, satellite-uplinked GPS base station in the Fire Island Wilderness Area to support detailed elevation surveys.

Near vertical (top, middle) and low angle oblique (bottom) aerial photographs of Oregon Inlet, North Carolina. View looking west along the North Carolina shore. High waves and storm surge from Hurricane Joaquin eroded the beach and inundated the low area in the backshore at Oregon Inlet (A, green box, blue arrows).