Images

Lobed star coral (Orbicella annularis) bleaching during the 2026 marine heatwave in the Florida Keys. Taken on July 12, 2026 at Newfound Harbor, an inshore patch reef in the Lower Florida Keys.

Starlet coral (Siderastrea siderea) bleaching during the 2026 marine heatwave in the Florida Keys. Taken on July 12, 2026 at Newfound Harbor, an inshore patch reef in the Lower Florida Keys.

Animated GIF of aerial images showing Milton Pass, FL, before and after Hurricanes Helene and Milton

Aerial image of Milton Pass pre-Hurricane Helene.

Aerial image of Midnight Pass pre-Hurricane Helene.

Map of aerial survey area in western Florida.

Aerial image of Milton Pass post-Hurricane Milton.

Aerial image of Midnight Pass post-Hurricane Milton.

An illustration of a beach complex showing a "swash regime" - the relative level that the water reaches during a low-impact storm.

An illustration of a beach complex showing an "overwash regime." Total water levels (including tide, surge, and waves) reach the dune crest. When storm-induced waves exceed the height of the dune, sand is transported over top of the dune and deposited inland.  The beach becomes greatly altered/degraded.

An illustration of a beach complex showing a "collision regime" - a type of storm impact on a dune system where total water levels (including tide, surge, and waves) exceed the dune toe area of the beach. The water and waves that reach the dune toe will impact the front of the dune. Loss of sand will reduce beach area for recreational use.

An illustration of a beach complex showing an "inundation regime" where water levels exceed the beach complex and dune crest. An inundation regime describes the frequency, duration, and depth of tidal or storm-induced flooding in a given location. Water is pushed onto adjacent land and communities behind the dune.

An animation of storm impacts regimes: swash, collision, overwash and inundation.

Non-profit organizations Transom Story Lab and Atlantic Public Media hosted a weekend-long science storytelling workshop called "Making Waves." It was attended by 11 scientists from scientific institutions throughout Woods Hole, Massachusetts, including USGS scientists Jin-Si Over, Ellen Lalk, and Sara Zeigler.

Non-profit organizations Transom Story Lab and Atlantic Public Media hosted a weekend-long science storytelling workshop called "Making Waves." It was attended by 11 scientists from scientific institutions throughout Woods Hole, Massachusetts, including USGS scientists Jin-Si Over, Ellen Lalk, and Sara Zeigler.

USGS scientist collects elevation data during a walking survey at Madeira Beach, FL.

USGS scientist collects elevation data from a personal water craft at Madeira Beach, FL.

Cartoon created image of all the APPROACH proxies, a coral x-ray, sediment core, clam shell, and a foraminifera.

Dr. Donya Frank-Gilchrist visited the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine during the Science and Innovation Diplomacy Workshop, organized by the US Global Change Research and the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research.

USGS scientist BJ Reynolds holds half of a Mercenaria spp. clamshell found by wading in shallow waters of South Tampa Bay, Florida.

Prior to landfall on the Florida coast on October 9, 2024, the Coastal Change Hazards Team predicted that 86 percent of beaches along the west coast of the Florida peninsula were very likely to erode at the dunes’ base, 82 percent of dunes were very likely to be overwashed by storm waves, and 75 percent of dunes were expected to be very likely to be inundated (