Images

Photo showing multiple geomorphic environments including from left to right: the Atlantic Ocean, beach, dunes, and island interior.

A diver uses an underwater drill to take a core sample from a massive brain coral (Diploria strigosa) in Dry Tortugas National Park. 

Near vertical (top, middle) and low angle oblique (bottom) aerial photographs of Rodanthe, North Carolina. View looking west along the North Carolina shore. High waves and storm surge from Hurricane Joaquin eroded the beach, exposing the pilings of the homes to wave attack (green and orange arrows).

Near vertical (top, middle) and low angle oblique (bottom) aerial photographs of Salvo, North Carolina. View looking west along the North Carolina shore. Waves and surge from Hurricane Joaquin eroded the beach, causing significant shoreline retreat and a narrower beach, leaving deposits of darker sand at the base of the dune (green arrow).

Maps showing (A) acoustic backscatter and (B) bathymetry collected with the inteferomentric sonar

Personal watercraft were utilized to collect bathymetry in the surf zone and shore face (top left), setup on the beach (top right), instrument configuration (bottom left) and Pelican case hardware configuration (bottom right).

Photo showing the complex geomorphology of the marsh landscape of the Grand Bay National Wildlife Refuge/Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in coastal Alabama and Mississippi. (1) Geology—a tidal creek that at lower sea level than present served as a distributary channel of a river-delta system. (2) Hydrodynamics—wave erosion of the marsh edge.

Waves breaking over offshore reefs on Kwajalein Atoll, in the Marshall Islands, where reefs are protecting developed land from flooding.

View of Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve in Hawaii. Hanauma is located along the southeast coast of the Island of Oʻahu. It is known for its abundance of marine life and is a popular snorkeling location.

Aerial image showing beach and offshore reef

Aerial image showing beach and offshore reef

Two colonies of the mustard hill coral, Porites astreoides, one apparently healthy (left) and one visibly bleached (right) during a coral-bleaching event at Hen and Chickens Sanctuary Preservation Area, Plantation Key, FL, USA. When ocean temperatures were unusually warm in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in October 2015, coral ble

Concrete and stainless-steel marker photographed 17 years after being installed into the reef in 1998 by Harold Hudson, NOAA. Scraping and grazing by parrotfish, chemical erosion from sponges, and wave action all combine to winnow away the dead skeletons of coral—a process known as reef erosion.

Here are shown two mustard hill corals (Porites astreoides) growing side-by-side, one (right) that has succumbed to heat stress and lost its symbiotic algae, and one (left) that has not.

A diver peeks from behind a badly bleached coral in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in October 2015. Coral bleaching events caused by abnormally warm ocean temperatures continue to regularly claim the lives of coral populations around the globe. 

Photo of undercut coral taken at Hen and Chickens Reef Sanctuary Preservation Area, Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

U.S. Geological Survey scientist walks on a coastal bluff in Alaska.

This flooded airport runway used to be the main lifeline for inhabitants of Barter Island, Alaska, before it was relocated in response to consistent flooding.

Time-averaged image, or “timex,” created by averaging the intensity of light recorded at each spot, or “pixel,” during a video taken at Duck, North Carolina, on September 1, 2015. Blurred white zones show where waves are breaking. Light band paralleling the shore marks an offshore sandbar. Dark bands extending away from the beach indicate rip channels.

We collect terrestrial (barrier island) and marine (nearshore and estuarine) sediment cores to understand the history of barrier island formation and erosion.

A USGS researcher collects beach elevation profile data on Fire Island, New York.