Images

The newly developed USGS Coral Core Archive, housed at the Santa Cruz and St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Centers, contains approximately 500 coral reef cores from U.S. jurisdictions worldwide.

Example of the relationship between CT intensities and measured density of the coral standards used to calibrate data. The measured density of the coral standards are compared to the mean intensities of each standard. Linear regressions calculated from the standard values are then used to calibrate data.

Coral sample in aluminum tube being prepared for scanning. The use of a secondary aluminum filter reduces beam hardening artifacts (rings) while also avoiding attenuating the x-ray beam.

Animation of a computed tomography scan of a coral core.

The Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 6 is a standalone application that calculates shoreline or boundary change over time. The GIS of a user’s choice is used to prepare the data for DSAS.  Like previous versions, DSAS v.6 enables a user to calculate rate-of-change statistics from multiple historical shoreline positions.

DSAS generates transects that are cast perpendicular to the reference baseline to intersect shorelines at a user-specified spacing alongshore. Please note that the figure above illustrates the placement of both onshore and offshore baselines as examples. In DSAS v6.0 all baselines in a file must be placed either offshore or onshore, not combined.

Donya Frank-Gilchrist (SPCMSC) manages the USGS booth at the recent SCDRP annual meeting to share USGS data and tools with community resilience partners and stakeholders.

On January 17-18, 2024, John Warner provided a two-day training for the COAWST (Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere-Waves-Sediment Transport) modeling system.

USGS Scientists Caitlin Reynolds and Rosalie Cruikshank are aboard the R/V Pelican in the northern Gulf of America. They are preparing two sediment traps for deployment. Sediments are caught in the large area at the top of the funnels, then collected in a bottle at the bottom.

Shown here is a photograph taken on October 20, 2023, of a wild Elkhorn coral colony in Buck Island Reef National Monument, St. Croix, VI, showing the effects of heat stress caused by elevated ocean temperatures. The heat stress causes “coral bleaching,” or the loss of nutrient-giving microscopic algae that normally live within corals.

Prior to landfall on the Gulf coast of the Florida peninsula on August 30, 2023, the Coastal Change Hazards Team forecast that 95 percent of beaches were forecast to erode at the dunes’ base, 20 percent of dunes were forecast to be overwashed by storm waves, and 1 percent of dunes were expected to be inundated (completely submerged) by surge, tide, and waves. T

Shown here is a colony of the threatened Elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, that has succumbed to "bleaching," that is, lost all its algal symbionts (also called zooxanthellae) because of the summer 2023 ocean-heat wave. The coral is attached to a cement block as part of the U.S.

Shown here is a small colony of the threatened Elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, that has become "bleached," that is, lost all its algal symbionts (also called zooxanthellae) because of the summer 2023 ocean-heat wave. The coral is attached to a cement block as part of the U.S.

Shown here are three SCUBA divers installing shade structures over experimental Elkhorn corals (Acropora palmata) that have become "bleached," that is, lost all their algal symbionts (also called zooxanthellae) because of the summer 2023 ocean-heat wave. The corals are attached to cement blocks as part of the U.S.

Shown here is a colony of the threatened Elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, in Dry Tortugas National Park that has become "bleached," that is, lost all its algal symbionts (also called zooxanthellae) because of the summer 2023 ocean-heat wave.

Shown here is a colony of the threatened Elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, that has become "bleached," that is, lost all its algal symbionts (also called zooxanthellae) because of the summer 2023 ocean-heat wave. The coral is attached to a cement block as part of the U.S.

Shown here is a colony of the threatened Elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, that has become "bleached," that is, lost all its algal symbionts (also called zooxanthellae) because of the summer 2023 ocean-heat wave. The coral is attached to a cement block as part of the U.S.

Coastal communities on the Great Lakes may experience coastal change, including dune erosion. The USGS and NOAA are developing the Total Water and Coastal Change Forecast at sites like this one in Ontanogan, Michigan to provide communities with real-time information for decision making.

Photograph of Caitlin Reynolds and the sediment traps from the Gulf of America aboard the R/V Weatherbird. Scientists collect and redeploy the mooring every 6-9 months. 

Dr. Legna Torres-García participated in camper interviews for the 2023 Oceanography Camp for Girls, during which she explained the types of oceanographic equipment that is used to collect data to help create and improve coastal change hazard predictions. 

Kara Doran shares USGS coastal change hazards forecasts and observations with campers from University of South Florida's 2023 Oceanography Camp for Girls.