Images

Sediment consolidation in an oedometer provides constraints on how much the reservoir sediment is likely to compact while methane from the reservoir’s gas hydrate is extracted as an energy resource.  Compaction data helps engineers optimize the construction and operation of wells that target gas hydrate reservoirs.

Screen shot of eerial imagery from unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flights over the Lake Ontario shoreline at Braddock Bay, New York, July 10 to 11, 2017

Image of the chirp 512i sub-bottom profiling system towed behind a research vessel during a seafloor mapping research effort. USGS staff, Alex Nichols, is in the foreground of the image.

USGS staff are preparing to deploy the Edgetech 512i sub-bottom profiling system from the stern of a research vessel.  The sub-bottom profiling system was used to map the geologic structure and sediments beneath the seafloor.

The house with the USGS BeachCam is in the center of this image, taken Feb. 14, 2017 after a much smaller Noreaster. Visible in the foreground on the left are the remnants of the artificial dune (completely removed by the March 2018 storm), and on the right is the engineered protection put in place by private property owners. 

Map of seabed geology and sun-illuminated topography, Stellwagen Bank Blue and purple = boulder ridges. Redlines = leading edges of sand sheets

Woods Hole Core Lab Manager, Brian Buczkowski,  giving a tour of the lab to local teachers participating in a professional development workshop

Map showing the surficial geology of Vineyard and western Nantucket Sounds with equivalent onshore geology (adapted from Stone and DiGiacomo-Cohen, 2009). The areal extents over which offshore subsurface geologic units crop out at the sea floor were interpreted from seismic-reflection data.

Jen Suttles,Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, collects water samples from a salt marsh tidal creek (East Falmouth, MA) for laboratory analysis of total organic carbon. These samples will be compared to data recorded by instrumentation deployed in an adjacent tidal creek as part of research efforts to quantify carbon dynamics in coastal ecosystems

The USGS strives to put coastal change data and information at the fingertips of users such as planners and emergency managers. The explicit goal is to enable users to integrate and apply USGS data and tools to address their specific needs. Online resources such as the Coastal Change Hazards (CCH) portal are designed with applied use of data in mind.

Sand ridge morphology and bedform migration patterns offshore of Assateague Island

Neil Ganju (standing) and Patrick Dickhudt preparing an oceanographic platform to measure wetland sediment transport in Forsythe NWR, New Jersey

Parameters considered in models for shoreline change, barrier island characteristics, and piping plover habitat availability. Together, these three models allow for forecasts of most likely future barrier island characteristics and piping plover habitat availability given sea-level rise. 

Sandy Brosnahan performing first solo flight as a USGS certified drone pilot.  There are multiple exciting applications for drone imagery including erosion studies and physical changes to coastal ecosystems over time. 

USGS scientist Sara Zeigler records habitat characteristics in iPlover at an ‘exclosed’ nest. On some beaches, managers erect netting around nests to protect eggs/chicks and adults from predators, allowing movement of chicks and parents to and from the nest but excluding predators

Piping Plover chicks

Browse graphic of Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge study area

Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey Study SIte

Products of Structure-from-Motion applied to data collected by UAS in Black Beach, Falmouth, MA

Groundwater data were collected in the spring and fall of 2008 from three sites representing different geological settings and biogeochemical conditions within the surficial glacial aquifer of Long Island, NY.

Browse graphic of point cloud data from low altitude aerial imagery from unmanned aerial system flights over Coast Guard Beach, Eastham, MA