Images

An remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) or drone, equipped with a camera, sits on the Arctic tundra awaiting a radio signal that tells it to fly.

Example of a low-oblique photograph taken with an unmanned aerial system (UAS), or drone, of the coastal bluffs of Barter Island on North Slope of Alaska. The photographs from different time periods can be compared, using a technique called structure-from-motion photogrammetry, to measure changes in the coastal bluffs.

A global positioning system (GPS) sits on a tripod and is used to accurately pinpoint the center of a target that itself is used for photo rectification with aerial photos. 

Example of a thermal photograph of Barter Island's bluffs, on the North Slope of Alaska. Two USGS scientists stand waving on the right side of the photo. Lighter areas are warmer, darker areas are colder. Thermal photography makes it easy to detect areas of permafrost, or the lack thereof.

Gigantic chunks of perafrost coastal bluffs tumbled down onto the beach along Barter Island on the North Slope of Alaska. A USGS scientist drives past them, seeking good locations to place instruments and markers that will be used in photographic analysis.

Alongshore view of the Barter Island permafrost bluffs, along the north coast of Alaska in the Arctic Ocean.

Cordell Johnson holds his hand next to a polar bear's footprint.

Staff Profile photo of Richard Buzard, Mendenhall Fellow at the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center.

Science party on board University of Washington’s research vessel Rachel Carson, who conducted geophysical surveys and tripod deployment in and around Astoria Canyon. From left to right: Gerry Hatcher (USGS), Maureen Walton (USGS), Jenna Hill (USGS), Andrea Ogston (UW), Anna Boyar (UW), Alicia Balster-Gee (USGS), Evan Lahr (UW).

USGS members of the science party on board R/V Rachel Carson prepare the hydrophone streamer for deployment.

Members of the science party and the crew of R/V Rachel Carson work to recover an instrumented tripod.

The instrumented tripod is successfully brought onboard for data download.

A seafloor transponder recovered from the Cascadia subduction zone.

Waveglider used to communicate with a geodesy station's seafloor transponders.

USGS principal investigators Nathan Miller and Janet Watt onboard the R/V Rachel Carson.

USGS engineering tech Rachel Marcuson (left) and research geophysicist Nathan Miller prepare the seismic streamer for deployment offshore northern Cascadia.

USGS scientist Pat Hart processing MCS data onboard the R/V Rachel Carson.

USGS chirp sub-bottom profiler on the deck of the R/V Rachel Carson leaving Newport, OR.

Four video cameras look westward over the coast and the coral reef at Tres Palmas in Rincón, on the west coast of Puerto Rico. Two cameras look out at the horizon and over the ocean for the mid-field view; one camera offers a zoomed-in, far-field view overlooking the reef and out to the island of Desecheo, a U.S.

Video camera snapshot at Tres Palmas in Rincón, on the west coast of Puerto Rico.

Four video cameras look westward over the coast and the coral reef at Tres Palmas in Rincón, on the west coast of Puerto Rico. Two cameras look out at the horizon and over the ocean for the mid-field view; one camera offers a zoomed-in, far-field view overlooking the reef and out to the island of Desecheo, a U.S.