Images

Seafloor offshore of Point Estero (PE) showing east (EH) and west (WH) strands of the Hosgri fault zone. Arrow points to a seafloor slope (a 12,000 year old shoreline) that has been offset by the east Hosgri strand, indicating a slip rate of about 2.6 millimeters per year.

Map view. Colored shaded-relief bathymetry map of Monterey Canyon and Vicinity map area, generated from multibeam-echosounder and bathymetric-sidescan data. Colors show depth: reds and oranges indicate shallower areas; purples, deeper areas. Illumination azimuth is 300°, from 45° above horizon.

Mount Crillon in the backdrop during a multibeam bathymetry survey of the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather Fault, offshore southeastern Alaska.

USGS research geologist Jon Warrick explains how his team applied structure-from-motion analysis to photos from the California Coastal Records Project to measure coastal change. Jon Warrick explains a “difference map” constructed from structure-in-motion data. Red areas indicate loss of material (erosion); blue areas show addition of material (deposition).

Photographs showing equipment used during bathymetric and topographic surveys along the Columbia River littoral cell, Washington and Oregon.

Video-camera station installed by Jenna Brown and Joe Long atop a hotel in Madeira Beach, Florida.

USGS ocean engineer Gerry Hatcher with the camera system he helped create for recording the precise time and geographic location of each air photo it takes. The system is mounted in the cargo compartment of a Cessna 182R airplane and takes photos through a window cut into a removable cargo door (right).

Southern California cliff and cliff-top development in Isla Vista, California

On October 6, 2016, scientists lower an instrument package on a taut-wire mooring into the canyon. The sediment trap (long funnel-shaped device) is designed to capture mud and sand carried in turbidity flows; the other sensors measure currents and suspended sediment.

Sediment trap is being prepared for deployment into Monterey Canyon offshore of Monterey, California.

Six USGS scientists presented their research at the 6th International Symposium on Deep-Sea Corals in September, 2016. This all-female force hailed from USGS centers in West Virginia, California, and Florida. Left to right: Jill Bourque, Cheryl Morrison, Nancy Prouty, Katharine Coykendall, Amanda Demopoulos, Christina Kellogg.

USGS is studying climate change impacts to U.S. Pacific and Arctic coasts. Alaska’s north coast is predominantly erosional, retreating on average about 1.4 meters per year.

USGS geologist Amy East was delighted to observe a Chinook salmon carcass upstream from two dams recently removed from the Elwha River in Washington State. River restoration has allowed salmon to reach upstream spawning grounds for the first time in more than a century.

Participants at the September 2016 Argus Workshop at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina. Labels provide names of four participants from USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program (Long, Plant, Brown, Harrison) and two participants from Oregon State University (Holman, Stanley).

View from Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park, Washington, looking at the Elwha River basin.

Adult polar bear walking across a recently overwashed barrier island during a large Arctic storm in September 2016. The barrier island is offshore of Barter Island on Alaska’s north coast.

Two scientists on the Arctic coastal bluff preparing a study location with cameras that they hope will run continuously, collecting images.

Christie gears up to survey beach elevation in Santa Cruz, CA with a precise and accurate GPS unit mounted to her backpack. The GPS unit on her backpack communicates with a nearby "base station" to minimize errors in location.

USGS scientists Jonathan Warrick and Jeff Duda receiving Riverprize recognition in New Delhi, India. Image courtesy of International Riverfoundation.

Polar bear lounging on Alaska’s north coast.

A polar bear rests in a field on Barter Island, Alaska.