Images

Dry streambeds during the summer months due to lack of base flow for (A) Big Sunflower River at Sunflower, Mississippi. Photos by Jeannie Barlow, 2008.

North Fork Kentucky River at Hazard, KY - flood inundation map

Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center's Ellyn Montgomery (right) on the helipad of the Canadian Coast Guard Vessel Louis St. Laurent returning from an ice reconnaissance flight as part of a joint study mapping the foot of the continental slope in the Arctic Ocean in 2008

(Top image) Shaded relief of the new multibeam bathymetry along the Puerto Rico Trench illuminated from the northwest. Thin contours indicate bathymetry at 500-m intervals. (Bottom image) Combined bathymetry map of the multibeam bathymetry data, single-beam bathymetry compilation around Puerto Rico, Lidar data near shore, and topography of Puerto Rico.

ShakeMap showing the inferred intensity of ground shaking in the 1868 earthquake (measured as MMI, or Modified Mercalli Intensity), compared to a ShakeMap for the 1989 magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Side-by-side comparison of the northwest wall of Kīlauea Caldera on a clear day (left) and a day with thick vog (right). HVO observation tower and building can be seen near the center in each photo.

Static stress change models for known or hypothesized faults in the Hispaniola and Puerto Rico subduction segments due to (a) slip on a patch of the Puerto Rico subduction zone, and (b) slip on a patch of the Hispaniola subduction zone. An open arrow denotes slip direction and the patches are marked by dashed rectangles.

Morning aerial view looking northwest up the valley of Sun Creek. Applegate Peak caps the prominent rock wall of the west side of Sun Notch at the caldera rim. Northwest caldera wall is visible on opposite side of Crater Lake through Sun Notch. Grayback Ridge in foreground is thick lava of pre-Mazama rhyodacite (410-460 ka).

A USGS scientist takes a sample from a northern pintail duck (Anas acuta) to be tested for avian influenza. 

Looking east to the Atlantic Ocean from Cadillac Mountain, Maine.

USGS employee sampling an urban monitoring well. Photo from USGS circular 1356 "Water Quality in the Mississippi Embayment-Texas Coastal Uplands Aquifer System and Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer, South-Central United States, 1994-2008."

USGS scientist taking a measurement at a groundwater well study site. Photo from USGS circular 1356 "Water Quality in the Mississippi Embayment-Texas Coastal Uplands Aquifer System and Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer, South-Central United States, 1994-2008."

USGS staff collecting a sediment core on Ft. Desoto Beach, Florida using vibracoring equipment. This type of sediment coring uses the vibration of an electric motor to sink an aluminum core barrel into the ground. When the core barrel enters the ground the sediment in the ground fills up the barrel and the crew uses the tripod to pull the core out of the ground.

Vog obscures view during slack or no tradewinds at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i

Taylor Slough in the setting sun.

Kingston Flood

At approximately 1:00a.m. on December 22, 2008, an earthen dam holding a containment pond at the Kingston, Tennessee Fossil Plant gave way, releasing over 500 million gallons of ash and sludge.

HVO geologist downloads images collected with infrared cameras set up on the rim of Halema‘uma‘u Crater. The cameras are aimed at an erupting lava lake to conduct a thermal survey of the lake's surface.

USGS scientists processing samples of combined sewer overflow water collected after a storm. The samples were analyzed for selected wastewater-related chemicals.

Exposed limestone near Pedernales Falls, Pedernales Falls State Park

A Common Octopus (Octopus vulgaris) leaves his den to hunt for conchs and clams.

Squall line approaching freshwater marsh at Lacassine NWR, LA