Images

Time-lapse of USGS researchers raising a mechanical mast with a high-resolution camera mounted on top, which was deployed atop a dune in the U.S.

Two high-resolution, digital cameras were mounted on towers overlooking the beach, dunes, and instrument arrays in the Outer Banks of North Carolina on September 18, 2021, as part of the DUring Nea

Michael Itzkin at the DUNEX field location on Pea Island, North Carolina. The instruments next to Michael include lidars, pressure sensors, and sonars to measure morphologic change, hydrodynamics, and sediment transport.

Researchers from the USGS and North Carolina Universites set up their equipment on installed poles stretching from the dune to the surf zone.

To install instruments offshore professional divers were hired to work alongside USGS personnel. Here, long segments of pipe are jetted into the seafloor to which instruments will be attached to measure offshore oceanographic conditions.

USGS personnel install signs on the beach warning and informing beach goers of the DUNEX experiment

USGS researcher Jenna Brown takes a measurement with a real time kinematic GPS receiver, this will give her an accurate position and height of the aluminum pole beneath it, which will have mutliple instruments attached to it to measure water flow and elevation changes.

USGS scientists mounted this high-resolution digital camera on an observation tower in the dune at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The camera overlooks the beach, dune, and an instrument array, and collects images throughout calm and storm conditions. 

Overhead image collected by a helikite of field work being conducted in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. An alternative to uncrewed aerial systems (UAS; commonly known as 'drones'), USGS scientists use helikites equipped with cameras to collect imagery of the coastline.

To survey the bathymetry off of the Pea Island DUNEX site WHOI investigator Peter Traykovski prepares to run into the surf with the ASV nicknamed "Robo Turtle" while USGS investigator Chris Sherwood handles the remote controller.

The US Army Corps of Engineers Field Research Facility in Duck, NC has set up a variety of sensors and arrays on the beach to measure oceanographic paramters for DUNEX

A calm hazy horizon after the team pushed two boats up and over the dune to be launched from the beach on Pea Island.

This field work was conducted as part of the During Nearshore Event Experiment (DUNEX) in 2021. 

Assembling the CoastCam station, USGS researchers Jenna Brown and Meg Palmsten stake down support wires as a storm approaches the Pea Island field site.

This field work was conducted as part of the During Nearshore Event Experiment (DUNEX) in 2021. 

USGS well, located in the Point aux Chenes estuary near the marsh edge, used to collect water level data.

Starboard platform with oceanographic sensors attached, wrapped in copper tape to deter biofouling, and ready for deployment to collect turbidity, conductivity, and other parameters.

Looking south along a Point Aux Chenes scarped low-marsh shoreline in September 2021

Cross-shore array of poles equipped with various sensors to measure water level and other parameters at Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. This equipment was deployed as part of the During Nearshore Event Experiment (DUNEX) in 2021. 

A USGS scientist collects real-time kinematic (RTK) position (elevation, latitude, and longitude) data following oceanographic sensor deployment in Point aux Chenes Bay, Mississippi.

Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) in Tres Palmas Marine Reserve, Rincón, Puerto Rico. This coral can form reef crests and cause waves to break, providing significant protection to the coast.

Buildings destroyed during Hurricane Maria in Rincón, Puerto Rico. Photograph taken on August 28, 2021, almost four years after the hurricane.

Coral reef in Tres Palmas Marine Reserve at Steps Beach, Rincón, Puerto Rico.