Images

Gerry Hatcher controls SQUID-5 image acquisition over Looe Key Sanctuary Preservation Area (SPA). 

Scientists RC Mickey and Dave Thompson from the USGS St.

Scientists RC Mickey and Dave Thompson from the USGS St.

Daniel Ciarletta, PhD is a Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow (Research Geologist) at the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center.

USGS Research Geologist Jennifer Miselis will conduct shoreface geophysical surveys at the USACE Field Research Facility during DUNEX aboard the LARC, which is shown here being set up for the survey.

Scientists walk on the beach beside a boardwalk that sits on an eroding bluff at the Rockaway Peninsula, New York. A new study investigates the geologic framework and how human modifications to the coast have influenced sediment availability on this margin.

Piping Plover walks in wet, pebbly sand along a shoreline.

Credit: Bri Benvenuti, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. https://www.flickr.com/photos/usfwsnortheast/51218237343/ 

A geophysical instrument (chirp) is towed in the water (yellow instrument) from a floating sled to acquire information about the geology below the seafloor in Duck, NC as part of DUNEX. The USACE Field Research Facility can be seen in the background in the upper left corner.

A groin at Seven Mile Island, New Jersey traps sand and contributes to widening of the barrier beach. This illustrates how human modification and wave processes shape the beach. In May 2021, Andrew Farmer, Chelsea Stalk, and Emily Wei conducted a multibeam bathymetry survey offshore of Seven Mile Island, along the southern coast of New Jersey.

A UTV (utility task vehicle) parked in front of a beach scarp used to collect data that is used in cooperation with FWC, FWS, USGS, and USFSP to understand sea turtle nesting behavior in response to beach renourishment with the goal of advising engineers on how to develop more turtle friendly nourishment desig

Scientific divers BJ Reynolds and Hunter Wilcox prepare to lower an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) into the water. The ADCP now sits on the bottom of the ocean off Madeira beach, Florida in 5m water depth.

An Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) on the deck of the R/V Sallenger ready to be deployed in the water. The ADCP now sits on the bottom of the ocean off Madeira beach, Florida in 5m water depth.

Inlet geomorphic environments with sediment transport pathways indicated by black arrows.

Biofilms are mats of microorganisms that stick together and form a layer, or “film,” on and within objects in the water—including ships—which could represent one possible mechanism for the spread of microbes (and potentially SCTLD’s unknown causative agent) from one region to another. To test this theory, scientists at the St.

Radioactive isotopes are common in nature and emit particles that can be detected, quantified, and used to characterize environmental processes.

Barrier islands off the coast of northern Pinellas County, Florida including Anclote Key, Three Rooker Island, and the northern tip of Honeymoon Island. These barriers protect a highly populated coastline. 

Barrier islands off the coast of northern Pinellas County, Florida including Anclote Key, Three Rooker Island, and the northern tip of Honeymoon Island. These barriers protect a highly populated coastline. 

Mendenhall postdoctoral fellow Daniel Ciarletta captured this view of the modern beach ridge system at Caladesi Island, along the Gulf coast of central Florida. Ciarletta and colleagues are studying the island as part of a project to explore barrier island response to long-term changes in sediment availability.

A USGS scientist sits on a personal watercraft (PWC) equipped with scientific equipment to collect bathymetry data - or the depth of the water - at locations of interest in Point Aux Chenes Bay, Mississippi. 

Dr. Mark Buckley of the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center holds a new Sofar Smart Mooring and Spotter Buoy that will be used to deliver high-fidelity, real-time wave, water level, and wind data.

Daniel Ciarletta, Ph.D. holds a chunk of sand from the bottom of a core collected at Fort de Soto Park in Pinellas County, Florida. Learn more about what barrier island cores tell us: https://www.usgs.gov/media/videos/secrets-sediment-barrier-islands.