Images

Post Hurricane Irene: Beach state after Hurricane Irene showing the exposure of a groin from loss of beach elevation (foreground) and beach and dune scarping due to elevated water levels (background).

During Hurricane Irene, sand eroded from the beach and dunes was transported landward, burying a walkway near the Fire Island lighthouse.

Oblique aerial photograph near Rodanthe, North Carolina, looking south along the coast on August 30, 2011, three days after landfall of Hurricane Irene. 

Christina Kellogg and David Zawada using SCUBA gear to sample the microbiomes of corals at Loggerhead Key, Dry Tortugas, Florida. Chris Kellogg studies corals to understand coral heath and potential diseases. 

U.S. Geological Survey scientist collecting elevation data on the bluff of Alaska’s north coast.

Eider duck eggs in a nest on Arey Island, Alaska. 

The large white radar dome is a former Distant Early Warning Line site, which sits atop a permafrost bluff on Barter Island, Alaska.

Top: Big Bay along the Long Beach trail, looking east along the Long Beach trail on Big Pine Key, Florida (FL). Note the angled shape of the vegetation caused by salt pruning from the prevailing sea breeze. Bottom: Red mangrove on the Long Beach trail, looking east along Long Beach trail on Big Pine Key, FL. Red mangroves provide critical coastal protection.

Sediment berm placement in the shoreface of northern Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image on July 28, 2010. Around the location of the oil leak, and around the Mississippi Delta, relatively light swirls and patches appear on the ocean surface.

Estimating volume of water discharged from fish sampling locations within mangrove forests is necessary to derive fish density estimates per volume.  Fish density was found to be greater in waters draining natural tidal forests than in waters from mudflats formed as a result of landfall of a Category 5 hurricane on Cape Sable, Everglades National Park in 1935.&

Sea Level Rise, Subsidence, and Wetland Loss. This video describes causes of wetland loss in the Mississippi River Delta. Rapid land subsidence due to sediment compaction and dewatering increases the rate of submergence in this deltaic system.

Slightly exposed rip-rap seawall at the base of the dune (the "dune toe") after dune erosion. Small seawalls are created using large rocks (rip-rap) at the dune toe to fortify the dune, reduce dune erosion from elevated water levels and storms, and help to protect property.

Bleaching colony of symmetrical brain coral, Diploria strigosa, Florida Keys. When corals are stressed, the symbiosis between the coral animal and its photosynthetic algal symbionts (zooxanthellae) breaks down and the zooxanthellae are expelled from the coral tissue.

Bleaching colony of lobed star coral, Montastraea annularis, Florida Keys. When corals are stressed, the symbiosis between the coral animal and its photosynthetic algal symbionts (zooxanthellae) breaks down and the zooxanthellae are expelled from the coral tissue.

Bleaching colony of great star coral, Montastraea cavernosa, Florida Keys. When corals are stressed, the symbiosis between the coral animal and its photosynthetic algal symbionts (zooxanthellae) breaks down and the zooxanthellae are expelled from the coral tissue.

Bleaching colony of great star coral, Montastraea cavernosa, with polyps extended, Florida Keys. When corals are stressed, the symbiosis between the coral animal and its photosynthetic algal symbionts (zooxanthellae) breaks down and the zooxanthellae are expelled from the coral tissue.

Bleaching colonies of mustard hill coral, Porites astreoides, both green and brown color morphs, Florida Keys. When corals are stressed, the symbiosis between the coral animal and its photosynthetic algal symbionts (zooxanthellae) breaks down and the zooxanthellae are expelled from the coral tissue.

Bleaching colony of mustard hill coral, Porites astreoides, Florida Keys. When corals are stressed, the symbiosis between the coral animal and its photosynthetic algal symbionts (zooxanthellae) breaks down and the zooxanthellae are expelled from the coral tissue.

Bleaching colony of blushing star coral, Stephanocoenia intersepta/michelinii. When corals are stressed, the symbiosis between the coral animal and its photosynthetic algal symbionts (zooxanthellae) breaks down and the zooxanthellae are expelled from the coral tissue.

Bleaching colony of elliptical star coral, Dichocoenia stokesii, Florida Keys. When corals are stressed, the symbiosis between the coral animal and its photosynthetic algal symbionts (zooxanthellae) breaks down and the zooxanthellae are expelled from the coral tissue.