Images

Omaha-Taniko Scientific Preserve. An extensive saltmarsh area in the Whangateau Harbour that has a rare intact vegetation sequence from mangrove forest and scrub ecosystem to saltmarsh to the Mānuka-dominated scrub wetland to Kahikatea swamp forest.

Research Geologist Natalie Kehrwald cuts a “cookie” from a fire-scarred tree in the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico. Cookies are cross-sections of trees that provide information on the interactions between past droughts and fires. 

Two USGS scientists preparing to collect soils and measuring infiltration to quantify microbial, biogeochemical, and hydrological recovery 1 year after the 2021 Dixie Fire. They have been seasonally measuring soil recovery at 11 sites within the footprint of the Dixie Fire.

Field technician sizes up a monarch giant sequoia killed in the 2020 KNP-Complex/Castle fire (Board Camp grove, Sequoia National Park.) Unfortunately, the vast majority of giant sequoia within the grove were killed during the catastrophic 2020 Castle fire. Credit: USGS Sequoia Research Program, image provided by David Soderberg (USGS Biologist)

Confluence of the Green and Yampa Rivers (green color is the Green and yellow color is the Yampa). The color of the water is an indication of the very different streamflow patterns between the two rivers. Credit: Becky Brice, USGS

Caitlin Reynolds retrieving one of the sediment traps used by USGS to study sediment flux in the Gulf of Mexico on board the Research Vessel (R/V) Weatherbird II (Florida Institute of Oceanography).

Eckerd College students taking water samples from a CTD-rosette on board the R/V Weatherbird

The R/V Weatherbird II docked at the Florida Institute of Oceanography at University of South Florida (USF) College of Marine Science in St. Petersburg, Florida. USGS scientists and partners at Eckerd College and USF load the vessel in preparation for a research cruise as part of a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Scientists-at-Sea program.

Mature giant sequoia survivorship with mottled, fire-caused understory mortality within mixed severity fire in Muir Grove, Sequoia National Park. 'Backburn' management operations were conducted to reduce fire severity before the leading edge of the KNP Complex wildfire moved into Muir Grove, reducing the likelihood of more severe fire effects. 

Ten species of planktic foraminifera from PETM sediments in southern Maryland. The scale bars measure 150 microns (0.015 cm). Each specimen is similar in size to a grain of sand. 

This Picarro L2130-i Isotope and Gas Concentration Analyzer is housed at the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center.

An established monitoring site to assess soil recovery in a chaparral ecosystem that burned in the 2020 LNU Lightning Complex Fire.

Researchers walk amid the glacial ice and crevasses left bare by summer melt on Lemon Creek Glacier, AK.

Two USGS scientists walk across the surface of Lemon Creek Glacier near the end of the melt season surrounded by green hills and barren rock.  

A researcher gazes across Wolverine Glacier and the surrounding snow-covered mountains during an early spring visit to collect mass balance data.

A scientist conducts winter instrument maintenance in interior Alaska surrounded by snow covered forest.

Avalanche debris covers a road in Glacier National Park at Red Rock point.

Young bog complex in winter at the Alaska Peatland Experiment (APEX) study site. 

The sun rises over snow covered pine trees at the Alaska Peatland Experiment (APEX) study site near Fairbanks, Alaska. 

USGS scientists drilling Santa Fe Lake, New Mexico as part of fieldwork conducted with the Did we start the fire? Climate, Fire and Humans project.

Alpine summits often support a great variety of vegetation species despite harsh environmental conditions. Bison Mountain GLORIA plot, Glacier National Park, Montana.