Images

Craig Lee and Mike Jayred scout a potential drilling location for extracting an ice core.

A white-tailed ptarmigan on Mt. Evans, a fourteener in Northern Colorado.

A white-tailed ptarmigan sits on the side of Mt. Evans in northern Colorado.  

USGS scientists prepare water-quality instruments before going out on the Great Salt Lake. USGS scientists are conducting a study to gain a better understanding of nutrient levels, which could help determine how to best manage algal bloom outbreaks.

USGS scientists conducting a study on the Great Salt Lake to gain a better understanding of nutrient levels, which could help determine how to best manage algal bloom outbreaks.

USGS scientists conducting a study on the Great Salt Lake to gain a better understanding of nutrient levels, which could help determine how to best manage algal bloom outbreaks.

USGS scientist Mike Freeman measures nutrient levels in Goggin Drain, Utah. USGS scientists are conducting an experimental study on two Utah water bodies to gain a better understanding of nutrient levels, which could help determine how to best manage algal bloom outbreaks.

USGS scientists Christopher L. Shope, Bryan Downing, Katy O'Donnell and Mike Freeman measure nutrient levels in Goggin Drain, Utah. USGS scientists are conducting an experimental study on two Utah water bodies to gain a better understanding of nutrient levels, which could help determine how to best manage algal bloom outbreaks.

USGS scientists Christopher L. Shope, Bryan Downing, Katy O'Donnell and Mike Freeman measure nutrient levels in Goggin Drain, Utah. USGS scientists are conducting an experimental study on two Utah water bodies to gain a better understanding of nutrient levels, which could help determine how to best manage algal bloom outbreaks.

USGS scientists Bryan Downing, Mike Freeman and Katy O'Donnell measure nutrient levels in Goggin Drain, Utah. USGS scientists are conducting an experimental study on two Utah water bodies to gain a better understanding of nutrient levels, which could help determine how to best manage algal bloom outbreaks.

USGS scientists use multiple high-frequency water quality instruments contained in a cage to measure nutrients and algal changes in surface water. Scientists are conducting an experimental study on two Utah water bodies to gain a better understanding of nutrient levels, which could help determine how to best manage algal bloom outbreaks.

Erosion along the Rio Puerco during the flood of 2006 following herbicide application to control saltcedar in 2003.

Organics analytical section, USGS National Water Quality Laboratory, Lakewood Colorado, 2016. Photograph by Mark Nilles, U.S. Geological Survey

Sample processing equipment for detection of N. fowleri

Collecting a sample for detection of N. fowleri in a Teton County hot spring

Spring sampling location along Little Sandy River in southern Wyoming. Groundwater discharge that flows into the Upper Colorado River Basin varies in response to drought, which is likely due to aquifer systems that contain relatively young groundwater, according to a new U.S.

USGS scientist collects noble gas sample from spring site near Roaring Judy, Colorado. Groundwater discharge that flows into the Upper Colorado River Basin varies in response to drought, which is likely due to aquifer systems that contain relatively young groundwater, according to a new U

Water quality and sampling equipment deployed at spring site near Roaring Judy, Colorado. Groundwater discharge that flows into the Upper Colorado River Basin varies in response to drought, which is likely due to aquifer systems that contain relatively young groundwater, according to a new U.S

Filling the teflon churn with water sampled from Laramie River near Laramie

An American bullfrom is native to most eastern states, but considered invasive in the moutain west.

In the summer of 1988, a wildfire ravaged the world's first national park, consuming 1.2 million acres in and around the Greater Yellowstone Park ecosystem.