Images

The U.S.

The U.S. Geological Survey is conducting research to guide the restoration and recovery of threatened corals in Dry Tortugas National Park and throughout the western Atlantic. Shown here is a colony of the threatened elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, that has grown over the sides of a cinderblock experimental platform.

A vibracore being deployed by USGS staff from the FSU R/V Apalachee for the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). The objective of this field effort was to establish a baseline environmental characterization for a test bed to predict mobility and burial of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in response to waves and currents. 

The USGS Processes Impacting Seafloor Change and Ecosystem Services (PISCES) project team meeting at the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center in May 2022 to coordinate Structure-from-motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with 5 cameras (SQUID-5) and diver-based SfM data acquisition and processing for field work.

Caitlin Reynolds retrieving one of the sediment traps used by USGS to study sediment flux in the Gulf of Mexico on board the Research Vessel (R/V) Weatherbird II (Florida Institute of Oceanography).

Eckerd College students taking water samples from a CTD-rosette on board the R/V Weatherbird

Our coasts, the most familiar part of the ocean are the gateway to the larger deeper ocean world. USGS studies processes and hazards in the coastal zone and how they affect people, wildlife, and ecosystems.

Dr. Legna Torres-García conducts an erosion model activity at the LCC Day School in St. Petersburg, FL, to showcase how hurricane-force winds can cause damage to coastal environments.

An erosion model activity used by the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center to showcase how hurricane-force winds can cause damage to coastal environments.

The SQUID-5, or Structure-from-motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with 5 cameras test in Tampa Bay.

Dr. Legna Torres-García conducts an erosion model activity at the LCC Day School in St. Petersburg, FL, to showcase how hurricane-force winds can cause damage to coastal environments.

The SQUID-5, or Structure-from-motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with 5 cameras, being deployed by Mitch Lemon (SPCMSC, on the left) and Gerry Hatcher (PCMSC, on the right)  in Tampa Bay for testing.

The SQUID-5, or Structure-from-motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with 5 cameras, shown being staged for a test run at the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center. In the background, Andy Farmer (SPCMSC) and Gerry Hatcher (PCMSC) prep the R/V Sallenger, the vessel being used to tow the device. 

The R/V Weatherbird II docked at the Florida Institute of Oceanography at University of South Florida (USF) College of Marine Science in St. Petersburg, Florida. USGS scientists and partners at Eckerd College and USF load the vessel in preparation for a research cruise as part of a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Scientists-at-Sea program.

A floating sled that enables sub‐bottom surveying in shallow water, nearshore, and shore‐face environments. The sled is equipped with an EdgeTech SB‐512i chirp system and single‐beam sonar. This equipment is used to collect seismic sub‐bottom profiles and single‐beam bathymetry.

Trayectorias de los huracanes Hugo (1989), Georges (1998), Irma (2017) y María (2017). Datos provistos por la NOAA. La imagen de base es propiedad intelectual de Esri y se usa aquí bajo licencia. Los derechos de autor y reproducción son propiedad de Esri y sus licenciatarios. 

BJ Reynolds of the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center operates a personal watercraft near the shoreline of Seven Mile Island, New Jersey. This vessel is used to collect single beam bathymetry (depth and seafloor shape) in the nearshore, and the equipment on the shoreline is used to collect chirp seismic reflection on the shoreface and inner shelf.

Photograph collage representing different coastlines; permafrost coasts, sandy beaches, rocky beaches, wetlands and marshes, cliff-backed beaches, and estuaries.  

A digital elevation model (DEM) was created from underwater images collected at Eastern Dry Rocks coral reef near Key West, Florida, in May 2021 using the SQUID-5 camera system. The underwater images were processed using Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry techniques into a classified two-class ('unclassified' and 'low noise') 3D point cloud.

Looking over the dunes towards the beach in the Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness at Fire Island, New York. 

Scientists collected sand auger cores from Fire Island to help reconstruct the evolution of the barrier over the last several centuries, with the goal of quantifying changes in sediment input and partitioning through time (e.g. how sand is distributed between the terrestrial portion of the barrier and the beach/shoreface).