Images

In 2017, the massive Mud Creek landslide buried a quarter-mile of the famous coastal route, California’s Highway 1, with rocks and dirt more than 65 feet deep. USGS monitors erosion along the landslide-prone cliffs of Big Sur, collecting aerial photos frequently throughout the year.

In 2017, the massive Mud Creek landslide buried a quarter-mile of the famous coastal route, California’s Highway 1, with rocks and dirt more than 65 feet deep. USGS monitors erosion along the landslide-prone cliffs of Big Sur, collecting aerial photos frequently throughout the year.

Photograph taken June 7, 2016, one day after Tropical Storm Colin, on Sunset Beach in the town of St. Pete Beach, Florida. Storm waves eroded the beach and dune, producing a cliff-like feature called a beach scarp.

Photograph taken during Tropical Storm Colin, June 6, 2016, on Sunset Beach in the town of St. Pete Beach, Florida.

Imagery shows topographic point clouds from photos, first from September 11, 2015 courtesy of California Coastal Records Project, second from March 8, 2017 (USGS photo), third from May 19, 2017 (USGS photo), and fourth from May 27, 2017 (USGS photo) 7 days following the catastrophic Highway 1 landslide.

Topographic “point clouds” (or 3D maps) created by computer processing of air photos show what the Mud Creek area looked like on March 8, 2017 (top), May 19 (center), and May 27 (bottom).

USGS air photo of the Mud Creek landslide, taken on May 27, 2017

View from an airplane looking at the Mud Creek landslide on the Big Sur coast that occurred May 20, 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.

Still-image from video camera atop the Dream Inn looks eastward over Main Beach and boardwalk in Santa Cruz, CA.

Frame from video of Cowells Beach in Santa Cruz, California, showing “pixel instruments” measured continuously during the video and used to estimate different coastal processes. The blue dots represent an array of pixels used by a computer program called cBathy to estimate seafloor depths (bathymetry).

USGS ocean engineer Gerry Hatcher (left) and USGS postdoctoral oceanographer Shawn Harrison make adjustments to a computer controlling two video cameras on the roof of the Dream Inn, a 10-story hotel overlooking Monterey Bay in Santa Cruz, California. One camera looks eastward over Santa Cruz Main Beach and boardwalk, and the other southward over Cowells Beach.

Snapshot, or first frame of from a 10-minute video taken May 6, 2017, in Santa Cruz, California.

Time-averaged image, or “timex,” created by averaging the intensity of light recorded at each spot, or “pixel,” during a 10-minute video taken at Santa Cruz, California, on May 6, 2017. Blurred white zones show where waves are breaking. Line between wet and dry sand shows the maximum height on the beach reached by the waves (“runup”).

“Variance” image produced from video shot at Cowells Beach in Santa Cruz, California, on May 6, 2017. The more the light intensity changes at a given spot, or “pixel,” during the video, the brighter the value assigned to that pixel. Motion tends to produce changes in light intensity. Note bright areas along and beyond the shore where waves were breaking.

Provisional data subject to revision. From the USGS Remote Sensing Coastal Change Project, illustration describes how the USGS measures topographic change with 4D photogrammetry utilizing the techniques of Warrick et al., 2017. A digital terrain model of a coastal cliff is shown with its ground control points.

• Scenic photograph of Grand Bay estuary taken from a boat just before sunset following a day in the field.

Scientists from the USGS St Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center (SPCMSC) capture the smooth water of the tidal creek reflecting a pastel sky and soft clouds while heading out for field work at early dawn.

View of Grand Bay, Mississippi marsh shoreline in April 2017.

After mixing about 20 grams of a sediment sample with distilled water, we add strong hydrogen peroxide to break down or "digest" organic matter that may be in the sample. Organic matter makes clay particles stick together and we need them separate in order to calculate accurate particle size fractions of the sample.