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Photo Roundup - January-March 2020

By Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program March 30, 2020

A selection of coastal and marine images from across the USGS

This article is part of the January-March 2020 issue of the Sound Waves newsletter. 

Photo of Fire Island showing back barrier, dunes, beach, and nearshore environments
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Photo of Fire Island showing back barrier, dunes, beach, and nearshore environments.
White and grey seabird on the water
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
A juvenile Marbled Murrelet. Marbled murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus) have been listed as “endangered” by the State of California and “threatened” by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since 1992 in California, Oregon, and Washington. Information regarding marbled murrelet abundance, distribution, population trends, and habitat associations is critical for risk assessment, effective management, evaluation of conservation efficacy, and ultimately, to meet Federal and State recovery efforts for this species. During June–August 2019, the USGS Western Ecological Research Center continued previously established, long-term (1996–2019), at-sea surveys to estimate abundance and productivity of marbled murrelets in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Conservation Zone 6 (San Francisco Bay to Point Sur in central California).
A person on a personal watercraft navigates through waters near a coast with low cliffs and hills way off in background.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Goleta Beach in Santa Barbara experienced an unusual storm and large wave event in the Spring of 2014. Gaviota Pier, seen far off in the background, sustained heavy damage as did the restaurants on the pier and nearby. The USGS conducts seasonal surveys throught the year to see how the beaches are changing through time. Here, a USGS scientist navigates a personal watercraft equipped with GPS and sonar to measure seafloor depths near the beach. The GPS system enables the driver to follow a precise path and to revisit the same path in future surveys.
Underwater photo of divers wearing oxygen tanks, placing instruments on coral reef.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Dive operations with National Park Service and the National Park of American Samoa installing tide, wave, temperature, and salinity sensors on the fore reef in NPSA off the south shore of Ofu, Manuʻa.
Provincetown, MA and the northern section of the Cape Cod National Seashore.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
This image was created using the Continuous Bathymetry and Elevation Models of the Massachusetts Coastal Zone and Continental Shelf, shows Provincetown, MA and the northern section of the Cape Cod National Seashore.
Collage with 6 small images of researchers working in the field over a background of coarse sand
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details
Examples of how coastal and marine scientists collect data in the field. 

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