Images

USGS scientist Tim Elfers conducts a bathymetric (depth) survey from a personal watercraft with onboard GPS and echo sounder equipment, in Santa Cruz, California.

USGS scientist surveying a beach using a backpack-mounted precision GPS receiver.

USGS researcher drills an instrument mount into a reef flat on Roi-Namur Island, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands, in the Pacific Ocean. Photo by USGS.

State-of-the-art multibeam and bathymetric sidescan sonar systems collect high-resolution bathymetry and acoustic backscatter data.

Photo from a time-lapse camera looking eastward along the north shore of Barter Island, Alaska, on June 15, 2014. A video-camera station would capture even more detail about the processes that shape this coast.

Aerial photograph of waves breaking on the fringing reef off Ennuebing Island, Kwajalein Atoll, Republic of the Marshall Islands. From cover of USGS Open-File Report titled, “Future Wave and Wind Projections for United States and United States-Affiliated Pacific Islands.”

USGS research geologist Patrick Limber measuring bluff heights near Ocean Beach in San Francisco, California.

Coastal research can be beautiful, too. Personal watercraft survey offshore of Santa Cruz, California.

Example of a deep-penetration multichannel seismic-reflection profile collected offshore of San Mateo County, from the USGS National Archive of Marine Seismic Surveys (NAMSS). The profile shows a cross-section of the earth's crust from the surface down to a depth of about 3 kilometers.

Jenny driving R/V Parke Snavely from the rear of the vessel in order to deploy an underwater towed camera sled.

Photograph shows a USGS ATV equipped with GPS, ready to collect topographic data on Seacliff Beach in Aptos, California.

Map view. Colored shaded-relief bathymetry map of Offshore of Half Moon Bay map area, generated from multibeam echosounder data. Colors show depth: reds and oranges indicate shallower areas; light blues, deeper areas. Illumination azimuth is 300°, from 45° above horizon.

Acoustic backscatter data show the intensity of an acoustic pulse off the seafloor and back to a ship. Brighter tones indicate a strong intensity (possibly harder seafloor?), while darker ones indicate a weaker intensity (possibly softer seafloor?).

Example of a high-resolution seismic-reflection profile collected by the USGS offshore of Point Sal. The profile shows a cross-section of the earth's crust down to about 240 meters. The dashed red lines show the Hosgri Fault Zone, part of a strike-slip fault system that extends for about 400 kilometers along the California coast from Point Arguello to Bolinas.

This is an example of a lidar image created from the “point cloud” that shows objects’ reflectivity near the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and the mouth of the San Lorenzo River.

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.

Santa Cruz Main Beach and Boardwalk two days after a "Super Soaker" winter storm hit with 2.5 inches of rain in just a few hours' time.

Santa Cruz Main Beach and Boardwalk just before a "Super Soaker" winter storm hit with 2.5 inches of rain in just a few hours' time.

A digital still image can be overlaid onto the lidar “point cloud” data to give it a realistic 3D look.

USGS Geographer Josh Logan sets up the lidar scanner near Capitola before the December 11, 2014 "Super Soaker" storm.

PCMSC scientists maneuver the camera sled for deployment off R/V Parke Snavely in Monterey Bay. They will navigate the camera sled just above the seafloor to get a close-up view. Video, photographs, and real-time observations of seafloor geology and biological cover help develop and verify the maps created from sonar data.