Images

A) Conditions during a 2015 munitions mobility experiment in Duck, NC, and B) cartographic visualization of hindcast probability of munitions’ complete burial during the experiment.

The U.S. Geological Survey St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center is conducting research to guide the restoration and recovery of the threatened elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, in Dry Tortugas National Park and throughout the western Atlantic.

The USGS will be using an autonomous surf vehicle, built by Peter Traykovski of WHOI, to map the bathymetry of the Pea Island DUNEX Experiment Site. 

The autonomous surf vehicle, built and controlled remotely  by Peter Traykovski of WHOI, is used to map the bathymetry of the Pea Island DUNEX Experiment Site. 

Tropical Storm Eta affected beaches along Florida's Gulf Coast in November 2020. Some dunes were eroded up to several feet due to the high water levels associated with the storm. Madeira Beach is home to many people and animals, and erosion events such as this can affect both habitat and infrastructure.

Tropical Storm Eta had effects on Florida's Gulf Coast beaches, including dune erosion and overwash. This image from the coast cam at Madeira Beach, Florida captured high water levels and resulting overwash of sand onto the patio of the Shoreline Resort.

In this image, three funnels containing seawater samples from coral mesocosms are passed through 0.025 um pore size filters. The samples have already been filtered through 0.2 um pore size filters to remove larger microorganisms such as bacteria, so the 0.025 um filters will capture primarily the viral size fraction of the mesocosm microbial community.

Dr. Ilsa Kuffner hangs out by a buoy in Dry Tortugas National Park (Florida) over a coral reef. Ilsa visits sites throughout the Florida Keys regularly to measure the growth and survival of nursery planted corals to determine where, and which genetic strains of corals will be most successful in large-scale coral reef restoration efforts.

Established in 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Coral Assessment Network (USGS-CAN) provides data on coral-growth (calcification) rates throughout the Florida Keys. Pictured here is one of 30 stations located in in Dry Tortugas National Park.

This screenshot was taken from a video created for the virtual 2020 St. Petersburg Science Festival that discussed Coastal Change Hazards research at the USGS. Justin Birchler is seen walking up the beach with GPS equipment to measure the elevation of the beach.

Waves are the motion of the water's surface, usually caused by the transfer of energy from wind. Wave energy causes the water to move in a circular motion. The height and length of these waves combined with the slope of the beach influence how high the water can reach up on the coast.

The USGS Coastal Change Hazards team collects data to monitor coastal change – including how storms and waves shape and reshape our beaches. It’s important to keep track of how beaches change over time because they provide habitat for many creatures including birds and sea turtles, and they are beautiful locations where people love to live and vacation.

This photo is the results of processing a time series of images, which are a combination of all image frames collected during a 10 to 17-minute video. These images are incredibly useful for studying coastal change remotely, but the usefulness of the image depends on how they are processed.

Justin Birchler, Physical Scientist with the USGS Coastal Change Hazards team conducts a beach profile survey at our field site on Madeira Beach. During these surveys, Justin wears a backpack with GPS equipment to collect elevation data that will be used to create a topographic map of the beach.

We conduct fieldwork in a variety of barrier island settings to understand the relative importance of these factors, including Fire Island, NY; Rockaway, NY; Seven Mile Island, NJ; and Cedar Island, VA.

As Hurricane Sally approached the US Gulf Coast, the USGS Coastal Change Hazards team produced a series of forecasts for impacts on the beach. Forecasts were updated daily based on wave and storm surge forecasts from NOAA.

As Hurricane Sally approached the US Gulf Coast, the USGS Coastal Change Hazards team produced a series of forecasts for impacts on the beach. Forecasts were updated daily based on wave and storm surge forecasts from NOAA.

In this NOAA satellite image from Sept. 15, 2020, Hurricane Sally approaches the U.S. Gulf Coast, Hurricane Paulettte creates storm waves far out in the Atlantic, and Tropical Storms Teddy and Vicky lie near the coast of Africa. Two tropical depressions are also developing; one of them is not visible in this image.

The Total Water Level and Coastal Change Forecast has continually expanded since real-time forecasts began in 2015. In 2020, new regions of the Gulf and South Atlantic coasts were added to the forecast and officially approved for use in National Weather Service Forecasts.

The USGS Remote Sensing Coastal Change Project collected aerial imagery of the northern Outer Banks, North Carolina coastline from pre- and post-Hurricane Isaias, in order to use Structure-from-Motion techniques to produce digital elevation models (DEMs) and orthomosaic photos, to be used in evaluating the storm-induced coastal change, such as sand transported onto

USGS coastal change experts predict that storm waves kicked up by the Category 1 hurricane are likely to cause some erosion at the base of the dunes along about 11 percent of coastal beaches between Florida and Virginia.