Images

Ice conditions in the Arctic from CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent.

USGS scientists test the moving arm bottom platform at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) dock.  While it was deployed, the system moved sensors through the bottom boundary layer and transmitted data in real time to shore via WHOI's Martha's Vineyard coastal observatory.

USGS scientists assembling a novel profiling arm to measure suspended sediment in the benthic boundary layer. This large seafloor platform was later deployed for several months off Martha's Vineyard, MA as part of the Optics Acoustics and Stress In Situ (OASIS) Project in 2011.

Post Hurricane Irene: Beach state after Hurricane Irene showing the exposure of a groin from loss of beach elevation (foreground) and beach and dune scarping due to elevated water levels (background).

During Hurricane Irene, sand eroded from the beach and dunes was transported landward, burying a walkway near the Fire Island lighthouse.

U.S. Geological Survey geographer Nadine Golden (center, kneeling) works with USGS marine operations staffer Cordell Johnson (right) and a deckhand (left) to deploy a camera sled from the research vessel Coral Sea. The sled is towed close to the seafloor and collects real-time photographs and videos.

Oblique aerial photograph near Rodanthe, North Carolina, looking south along the coast on August 30, 2011, three days after landfall of Hurricane Irene. 

The airgun sled is painted orange and suspended from the A-frame.  The three airguns are suspended beneath the sled. The multichannel digital streamer (yellow cable going into the water from the sled) is towed from the the weighted sled to keep it under the ice. This photo shows the number of crew required to safely deploy the airgun sled.

Deploying the airgun array from CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent. USCGC Healy can be seen in the background.

CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent following the path created by USCGC Healy

A breach in the coastline of Rodanthe, North Carolina, caused by Hurricane Irene in 2011. Repeated storm impacts, combined with sea level rise, make the development and improvement of models that help forecast coastal change very important to planners working to build more resilient communities

Personal watercraft fitted with sonar and GPS were among the tools used by USGS scientists to map the bottom of shallow coastal waters near the mouth of the Elwha River. This shot was taken August 25, 2011, during a survey conducted just a few weeks before dam removal began.

Construction of the two newest additions to the U.S. Geological Survey Great Lakes Science Center's fleet of large research vessels is nearing completion. The two new USGS research vessels will replace the aging vessels on lakes Erie and Ontario.

Construction of the two newest additions to the U.S. Geological Survey Great Lakes Science Center's fleet of large research vessels is nearing completion. The two new USGS research vessels will replace the aging vessels on lakes Erie and Ontario.

Jenny (seated) repairing a seismic airgun (sound source) on the R/V Marcus G. Langseth in the Bering Sea, where the USGS collected data in August 2011 for the U.S. Extended Continental Shelf Project.

Electronics for controlling the moving arm in the open pressure housing.

Christina Kellogg and David Zawada using SCUBA gear to sample the microbiomes of corals at Loggerhead Key, Dry Tortugas, Florida. Chris Kellogg studies corals to understand coral heath and potential diseases. 

Aerial view looking northwest of Makapuu Beach Park (foreground) and Waimanalo Bay in the distance, southeast Oahu, Hawaii.

U.S. Geological Survey scientist collecting elevation data on the bluff of Alaska’s north coast.

USGS geologists, from left, Bruce Richmond, Ann Gibbs, Li Erikson, and Curt Storlazzi pose together on a snowy field in Alaska.

Eider duck eggs in a nest on Arey Island, Alaska.