Images

Cordell Johnson uses a personal watercraft (PWC) equipped with GPS and sonar to measure seafloor depths near the beach.

Dan Nowacki measures dune elevations near the mouth of the Pajaro River with a precision GPS unit carried in his backpack.

Humboldt State University Assistant Professor Melanie Michalak (squatting) and California State Geological Survey scientist Jay Patton (standing, center) explaining core stratigraphy within Humboldt slough and evidence for past tsunami inundation.

Between November 2014 and June 2016 the U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center (PCMSC) conducted eight repeat, high-resolution bathymetry and acoustic-backscatter surveys of a small patch of seafloor offshore Santa Cruz in northern Monterey Bay, California.

Map of proposed dive sites during the Hawaiian Drowned Reefs Expedition taking place August 31 – October 31, 2023.

Web cam mounted near USGS gaging station site number 12046260, looking upstream from the water supply diversion structure on the lower Elwha River near Port Angeles in Washington.

San Clemente Dam was a 106-foot-high concrete arch dam that was located approximately 18.5 miles from the Pacific Ocean on the Carmel River. It was built in 1921 to create a reservoir to support the growing residential, agricultural, and tourism-related development.

After USGS scientist Dan Hoover drove a couple of pass with his all-terrain vehicle (ATV), equipped with gear that collects elevations, on a mostly flat beach in southern Monterey Bay, California. Then he turned to take this photo of his tire tracks.

For typical beach surveys, USGS scientists drive an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) like the one shown here, equpped with precision GPS that collects location and elevation data. Driving along features such as high-water marks, and driving a grid pattern spaced by about 30 meters, enable the collection of a complete 3D representation of the beach surface.

USGS oceanographer Andrew Stevens, of the Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, California, sits on an all-terrain vehicle equipped with a precision GPS and other instruments. The GPS collects position data continuously, about 2 points per second, while an operator like Andrew drives the ATV over a beach.

Science and ship crew on board NOAA research vessel Rainier prepare the Chirp 512i off south-central California.

Two personal watercraft operators from the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, California, navigate their personal watercraft (PWC) in the shallow nearshore region in Moss Landing near Elkhorn Slough. The PWCs are set up with precision GPS and echosounder systems in order to create detailed bathymetric maps (depth).

USGS oceanographer Shawn Harrison stands on the coastal bluff of Barter Island, Alaska at sunset. Shawn and his fellow researchers are studying how the highly erosive bluff changes under the varied conditions experienced by this stretch of coastline.

Cover of the 2018 publication, "California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment: Statewide Summary Report."

Audience at California's Premier Adaptation Gathering

Audience at California's Premier Adaptation Gathering

Unalakleet village on the low-lying barrier spit at the inlet of the Unalakleet River and Norton Sound, Alaska.

Jenny McKee and Peter Dal Farro of the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center swing a pair of seismic sources, also called air guns, and the gun hanger, out over the water to deploy them during the 2018 MATRIX cruise. Scripps Institution of Oceanography's seismic streamer is coiled on the blue winch in the foreground.

Jenny McKee and Peter Dal Farro of the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center swing a pair of seismic sources, also called air guns, and the gun hanger, out over the water to deploy them during the 2018 MATRIX cruise. Scripps Institution of Oceanography's seismic streamer is coiled on the blue winch in the foreground.

Entering Yaquina Bay, Oregon aboard the NOAA ship Rainier, approaching the Yaquina Bay Bridge with Newport Marina off to the right in the distance.

Engineering technician Jenny McKee from the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, California watches as an expendable sonobuoy leaves the launcher during the 2018 MATRIX cruise on research vessel Hugh R.