Images

A close-up image of native sulfur crystals that formed within fumaroles at the Sulphur Banks in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. In addition to sulfur species and other gases, volcanoes emit water vapor. Here, some of the vapor has condensed to liquid water and formed droplets visible on the sulfur crystals. USGS photo by P. Nadeau. 

USGS scientist uses a weighted basket sampler to collect a Time of Travel red-dye sample at WaterOne in Olathe, Kansas. 

Different sulfur gases, including sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), can react with each other to deposit crystals of pure native sulfur at sites of degassing called fumaroles. The crystals picture here formed within a Sulphur Banks area fumarole in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. USGS photo by T. Elias.

graphic showing gallons in a cubic foot

graphic showing volume of acre foot on football field

As part of routine monitoring efforts, HVO gas scientists collected helium samples from fumaroles in the Sulphur Banks, or Ha‘akulamanu, area of Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park on September 30, 2020. Helium can pass through the glass of typical gas sampling bottles, so copper tubing is necessary for the specialized sample.

USGS scientists Robin Beebee (left) and Jeff Conaway use a boat-mounted multibeam echosounder to map river bathymetry around bridge piers in the Copper River Delta of Alaska. The bathymetric mapping is part of a streambed scour study conducted in cooperation with the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities.

Tubing inserted into a fumarole at the Sulphur Banks in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park allows HVO gas scientists to sample gas. The gas travels through the tube into gas sampling bottles for later analyses. USGS photo by M. Warren.

USGS scientist Chantelle Davis prepares to collect a red-dye sample, at sunrise, for the Time of Travel study in Olathe, Kansas. 

USGS map of Earth MRI projects in West Virginia announced in September 2020.

USGS scientist Ian Gambill gets a field fluorometer reading from a recently collected red-dye study sample from the Kansas River in DeSoto, Kansas.

Springs discharging from the artesian aquifer are commonly supersaturated with minerals. In this photo at Iron Spring a small mound of iron hydroxides is forming below where the spring outflows to Fountain Creek.

Marine engineering technician Pete Dal Ferro sets up a newly acquired, portable, single-beam echo sounder on the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz, California. The new device, called CEESCOPE, collects bathymetric (depth) data and also records features of the subsurface.

The USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center's new inflatable boat equipped with a portable, single beam, shallow-water echo sounder used for nearshore surveys. USGS scientists collect such data seasonally, to study sediment input and movement in and around Monterey Bay area beaches.

USGS scientist watches over the many samples collected during the red-dye study trial run in Desoto, Kansas while he awaits the next sample.

Panoramic photo of Pocket Basin, a hydrothermal explosion crater in Yellowstone National Park's Lower Geyser Basin, taken from the northeast rim looking southwest into the crater. Pocket Basin is a U-shaped crater that is dissected on the SW edge by the Firehole River, visible on the far-right of the photo.

In September 2020 USGS tested ground-penetrating radar (GPR) mounted on a cableway over the Gunnison River in Colorado. USGS has been testing use of the GPR to map river bathymetry (profiles of water depth along the river), measurements often made by personnel in the water or on boats.

Small patches of light-colored floating material were seen drifting on the surface of Kīlauea's summit water lake on September 23, 2020. The composition of this material is unknown, but future water sampling missions may provide insight. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

Technicians set up equipment to monitor atmospheric deposition on Elephant Head on a bluebird day, looking north across the Great Salt Lake.

Spectacular view of Great Salt Lake on relatively clear day. Lake is lost in the distance as it meets the blue of the sky at the horizon. USGS research scientists in foreground setting up atmospheric deposition collection frame on Elephant Head.

On September 23, 2020, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geophysicists and a geologist conducted a gravity survey of Kīlauea summit, as part of HVO's regular monitoring program. In this photo, scientists are carrying survey equipment westward along the remnants of the Halema‘uma‘u Trail on the down-dropped block of Kīlauea caldera.