Images

The tsunami that resulted from the M 8.8 earthquake on Feb. 27, 2010 destroyed hundreds of homes in Dichato, Chile.

Launching a cabin boat outfitted with telemetry tracking equipment during high water on the Missouri River from the Hartsburg, Missouri, boat ramp. 

A massive Coulter pine that was burned in the 2007 Lake Arrowhead/Grass Valley wildfires stands alone on a hillside regrown with Manzanita, dwarfing USGS Western Ecological Research Center director Steven Schwarzbach.

Arenal Volcano is surrounded by inhabitants despite being extremely active.

Dr. David Shelly is a research seismologist with the USGS.

The Boulder magnetic observatory. Variations and Proton Sensor buildings at the lower right.

ARRA-funded student Taryn Lopez (Univ. Alaska-Fairbanks) sampling gas emissions at fumarole next to dome at the summit of Augustine volcano.

Rivers in middle Tennessee crested May 2-3,2010, breaking records at many USGS-operated streamgages. The flood peak on the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville ranks as the highest observed during the past 73 years.

Just moments after the last photograph, the collapse produced a thick brown plume, but did not appear to trigger an explosive event in this case.

A channelized flow was being erupted today from the vent on the west side of the floor of Pu'u 'O 'o.

Following several collapses and small explosive events that deposited spatter on the floor of Halema'uma'u crater around noon, the lava surface in Halema'uma'u was roiling and agitated for the remainder of the afternoon, with numerous points of upwelling and spattering.

A close-up of the active lava surface in Halema'uma'u.

Another large chunk of the rim collapsed into the Halema'uma'u lava lake.

Cattle Ranch with typically 100 head of cattle currently flooded from the spring melt of higher than average snow accumulation.

Absolutes and electronics buildings at Newport, WA magnetic observatory.

Earthquake-triggered landslide on south coast of Haiti near village of Nan Diamant.

Mount Hood, Oregon, viewed from the northwest at Lost Lake.

Flooded gaging station on the Souris River near Westhope, North Dakota, April 20, 2011.  See other pictures in this gallery with the tag 05124000 to see what the gage house normally looks like - it is on a raised platform on the bank of the river with an access road next to it.

USGS scientists Paul Frederick and Mike Descant make sure there is enough clearance for their boat to drive under a bridge on the Atchafalaya River near Melville, La. 

Would you know there is a boat ramp here?  Launching a boat during high water on the muddy Missouri River requires intimate knowledge of boat ramps.  The Glasgow, MO, boat ramp (pictured) is underwater when the local gage is approximately 29 feet. 

Employee uses a Flowtracker to measure cross-sectional profile of a rivulet draining a mangrove forest.