Images

The Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) held a conference in Long Beach, California, from October 13–15, 2016. Presenters at the conference in the USGS-sponsored session titled, “Clocks in the Rocks, Coral, and Wood: Dating Techniques That Keep Ti

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.

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).

Polar bear lounging on Alaska’s north coast.

Aerial photograph of Breton Island, Sept. 7, 2016. The USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program studies changes to coastal landscapes such as barrier islands.

Aerial photograph looking west along Dauphin Island, Alabama, taken in September 2016.

Animated GIF of wave runup and setup on a beach on a stormy day during Tropical Storm Colin in Florida. Full b-roll video: https://www.usgs.gov/media/videos/wave-runup-during-tropical-storm-coli…

Screenshot of Total Water Level and Coastal Change Forecast Viewer on June 4, 2016, two days before Tropical Storm Colin was expected to hit Florida’s Gulf of Mexico coast.

A 14-cm upland peat auger sediment core of a brown peat above fine tan silty sand was collected from the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in May, 2016.

Diadema antillarum, the long-spined sea urchin, is an ecologically important species in Caribbean coral reef habitats where it controls algal growth and coverage and helps keep reef surfaces clear for corals to grow and settle. In early 2022, the remaining D. antillarum populations began experiencing mass mortality in the Caribbean.

In May 2016, Susan Russell-Robinson (Associate Coordinator of the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program, third from right) and Dave Applegate (USGS Associate Director for Natural Hazards, left) celebrated with the team whose website “USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program (CMGP, now called CMHRP

A 21-cm marsh peat auger sediment core containing a brown peat above a clayey silty gray sediment layer was collected in the field in the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in May, 2016.

USGS scientists aboard a boat measure an estuarine sediment push core collected in an acrylic barrel.

• USGS scientists collecting sediment vibracores in Grand Bay estuary from a boat in May 2016.

Diadema antillarum, the long-spined sea urchin, is an ecologically important species in Caribbean coral reef habitats where it controls algal growth and coverage and helps keep reef surfaces clear for corals to grow and settle. In early 2022, the remaining D. antillarum populations began experiencing mass mortality in the Caribbean.

Ground-Penetrating Radar instruments are towed across land. Data from this instrument show underlying sediment layers within the dune and barrier island, which may reveal patterns of growth and erosion.

A colony of the soft coral known as the "bent sea rod" stands bleached on a reef off of Islamorada, Florida. Hard and soft corals are presently bleaching- losing their symbiotic algae – all over the coral reefs of the Florida Keys due to unusually warm ocean temperatures this summer.

A red fox trots across the beach on Fire Island with dunes and waves in the background

We collect terrestrial (barrier island) and marine (nearshore and estuarine) sediment cores to ground-truth geophysical observations. These cores are used to understand the history of barrier island formation and erosion.

The impacts of extreme storms can be striking. Here, winter nor’easters eroded sediments from an artificial dune at Fire Island, New York and moved them onto the beach and shoreface. Such erosion created a steep vertical face, or scarp. Erosion and overwash are expected to increase on Fire Island with rising sea levels. 

Though often less intense than hurricanes, extratropical storms (e.g., nor’easters) occur more frequently and their impacts can be striking. Here, several years after Hurricane Sandy, winter nor’easters eroded sediments from an artificial dune at Fire Island, NY and moved them onto the beach and shoreface. Such erosion created a steep vertical face, or scarp.