Images

The SQUID-5, or Structure-from-motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with 5 cameras test in Tampa Bay.

Our coasts, the most familiar part of the ocean are the gateway to the larger deeper ocean world. USGS studies processes and hazards in the coastal zone and how they affect people, wildlife, and ecosystems.

The SQUID-5, or Structure-from-motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with 5 cameras, being deployed by Mitch Lemon (SPCMSC, on the left) and Gerry Hatcher (PCMSC, on the right)  in Tampa Bay for testing.

The SQUID-5, or Structure-from-motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with 5 cameras, shown being staged for a test run at the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center. In the background, Andy Farmer (SPCMSC) and Gerry Hatcher (PCMSC) prep the R/V Sallenger, the vessel being used to tow the device. 

Gif of ocean waves. The ocean holds great cultural and economic value and hosts numerous ecosystems that support life on Earth and produce valuable resources. USGS science focuses on improved understanding of many aspects of our world’s interconnected oceanic system, from the continental shelf to the deep sea. 

Idealized animation of tsunamis produced by the 15 January 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‛apai volcano in the Kingdom of Tonga. View to the southeast. 

Screenshot of an idealized animation of tsunamis produced by the 15 January 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcano in the Kingdom of Tonga. View to the north-northeast. The fastest water wave to radiate away from the eruption is being pushed by an atmospheric wave triggered by the explosion.

Idealized animation of tsunamis produced by the 15 January 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‛apai volcano in the Kingdom of Tonga. View to the north-northeast.

A digital elevation model (DEM) was created from underwater images collected at Eastern Dry Rocks coral reef near Key West, Florida, in May 2021 using the SQUID-5 camera system. The underwater images were processed using Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry techniques into a classified two-class ('unclassified' and 'low noise') 3D point cloud.

Screenshot of introduction episode of the Climate Science Champions video series.

Deep water camera and light installed in the head weight of the upgraded USGS jumbo piston corer. In the background, USGS Marine Engineering Technician Daniel Powers is preparing the core liner for sediment collection. 

Pete Dal Ferro, USGS Marine Engineering Technician and lead fabricator on the JPC upgrade, monitors the testing of the coring system on R/V Hugh R. Sharp in March 2022.

Global Marine Mineral Resources Group. From left to right, USGS Research Oceanographer Amy Gartman, visiting scientist Mariana Benites from University São Paolo, USGS Physical Scientist Denise Payan, graduate student Noemi Ortega Dominguez, student contractor Manda Au, and USGS Research Oceanographer Kira Mizell.

Triptych of images showing wildfire, roadside flooding, and the Big Sur coastline in California.

The wee strand is a beach along the head of of Loch Indaal, Scotland. Loch Indaal is an ocean bay on Islay, the southernmost island of the Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland.

Upgraded USGS jumbo piston corer being readied for deployment off the research vessel Hugh R. Sharp in April 2022.

None the worse for wear, a plastic, ocean current drifter disk, originally released off Barter Island in Alaska, was discovered on the coast of Scotland 37 years after its initial release into the ocean.

A 37-year-old plastic ocean drifter, originally released off Barter Island in Alaska, was discovered on the coast of Scotland.

PCMSC scientist measuring land-surface elevation near the bay-marsh edge of Whale's Tail South marsh in Eden Landing Ecological Reserve, Hayward, CA, with birds foraging on the South San Francisco Bay mudflats at low tide in the background.

Scientists from PCMSC deploying instruments to measure water level and suspended-sediment concentration in Whale's Tail South marsh in Eden Landing Ecological Reserve, Hayward, CA.

This image from a video camera pointed at the coast tracks the brightest pixels in the camera view over 10 minutes of video. The resulting image is useful for identifying features such as the position of maximum wave run-up on the beach, the position of all breaking waves, and sea-state.