Images

The survival of Elkhorn Coral, shown here composing a healthy thicket, is critical for shoreline protection because it is the only species that builds reef-crest habitat in the Caribbean region.

A USGS researcher measures water and sediment movement at Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey.

Fire Island Lighthouse at Fire Island National Seashore

A peat auger core collected from the back-barrier marsh of Assateague Island, Maryland. An inorganic-rich layer found at the top of the core was delivered to the marsh via Hurricane Sandy. Visual contrast in sediment down-core reveal similar layers as that observed at the top of the core (i.e., Hurricane Sandy layer).

Perspective view of coastal bathymetry looking onshore, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, mapped using lidar and depicted with false-color, showing detailed submerged features, including coral reefs.

Since Hurricane Sandy, we have developed techniques to monitor short-term changes to the upper beach where both storm impacts and subsequent beach recovery are easily observed and measured.

USGS researchers can study beach recovery by collecting repeat elevation profiles at Fire Island, NY.

Cores can contain sediment units deposited in different environmental settings. Core photos and X-rays illuminate how sediment units can have contrasting color and density.  

Three Arctica islandica shells that have been washed and set out to dry.                                     

Researchers at the USGS study the long-term change of the beaches and dunes at Fire Island, NY.

USGS researchers collect repeat geophysical data from the nearshore at Fire Island, NY to study bathymetric change over time.

Clean, sandy beach on Fire Island with a researcher on a PWC in the surf zone in the background 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Lighter Amphibious Resupply Cargo (LARC) survey vessel towed an Edgetech chirp 512i subbottom profiler mounted on a catamaran sled.

USGS scientist Jennifer Miselis stands on board the US Army Corps of Engineers' (USACE) Lighter Amphibious Resupply Cargo (LARC). USGS collaborated with USACE to analyze coastal change due to Hurricane Sandy. Miselis is preparing to deploy a Chirp sub-bottom profiling system with a towfish attached in between the pontoons to collect sub-seafloor geological data.

'Fisheye' photograph of the oceanside area of Fire Island showing dunes, surf, and beach, with 2 researchers beside an all-terrain vehicle

Eroded dunes on Fire Island, New York, nearly two years after Hurricane Sandy.

A crew of USGS scientists prepares equipment, including personal watercraft, to collect nearshore bathymetry and sub-surface geology data to assess the impacts of Hurricane Sandy.

Following Hurricane Sandy, estuarine surface samples were collected to assess foraminiferal microfossil distribution in the estuary and for comparison with marsh cores to aid in identification of storm deposits and estuarine influences on the marsh. We spotted a few horseshoe crabs while sampling but this was certainly one of the largest.

Following Hurricane Sandy, GPR field work was conducted on Assateague Island, Maryland, to image stratigraphic features that may aid in explaining controls on washover deposition. The horseshoe crab was spotted early in the morning while gearing up for the day.  

Photo of the seafloor in Block Island Sound showing a rock crab and several shrimp on a boulder that is covered with bryozoans. The photo was collected in support of research and management activities (e.g., wind farms and fisheries) along the Rhode Island inner continental shelf.

Multicores collected from the northern Gulf of Mexico while aboard the R/V Pelican in 2013. These cores are sampled at 5 mm increments and used to reconstruct sea surface temperature in the Gulf of Mexico over the past 1000 years.