Images

 Two UNC mini landers, surrounded by Sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) and pink sea urchins, incubate seawater in situ to enable calculations of methane oxidation rates.

Red plumes burst out from the tops of these chemosynthetic tubeworms, capturing hydrogen sulfide and oxygen from the surrounding water to feed their bacterial endosymbionts. The tubeworm tubes provide a habitat for several benthic animals, including the pale pink branching octocorals seen here

Sunset on the Delaware River

Head of the Meadow Beach, Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts

Head of the Meadow Beach, Cape Cod National Seashore, Massachusetts

Coastal and Marine scientists collect data in the field. 

Photo Contest Winner | Jan. 2020 | People
Marinna Martini and team installing CoastCam at Cape Cod National Seashore

A new CoastCam station was established at Head of the Meadow Beach, North Truro, MA in the Cape Cod National Seashore in 2019. The camera overlooks the beach from atop a remote sandy bluff about a quarter of a mile from the parking lot, so the installation of the cameras, batteries, and solar panels was challenging.

A new CoastCam station was established at Head of the Meadow Beach, North Truro, MA in the Cape Cod National Seashore in 2019. The camera overlooks the beach from atop a remote sandy bluff about a quarter of a mile from the parking lot, so the installation of the cameras, batteries, and solar panels was challenging.

Map showing rates of shoreline change on the north coast of Alaska. Rates range from -15 meters per year to +11 meters per year.

The USGS Coastal and Estuarine Dynamics Group will be deploying a cross shore array at Pea Island, various intruments will be connected to the poles to measure oceanographic conditions

Environmental geoscience fieldwork

Aerial photo of Cape Cod coast taken by the USGS WHCMSC AIM team.

Taken on the last full day of the Cape Cod Bay 2019 Survey, from the wheel house of the boat at about 5:45 am.

Taken on the last full day of the Cape Cod Bay 2019 Survey, from the wheel house of the boat at about 5:45 am.

Northeast Region Photo Contest Winner | Sept 2019 | Honorable Mention
Sunrise from the bridge of the M/V Warren Jr. while surveying Cape Cod Bay, MA

Wayne Baldwin, Alex Nichols, and Brian Andrews get the 512i chirp subbottom profiler back on deck! The instrument weights ~500lbs. and requires the ships A-frame to lift it! We only take the chirp out of the water when we need to perform maintenance, transit rapidly, or for weather.

Wayne Baldwin, Alex Nichols, and Brian Andrews get the 512i chirp subbottom profiler back on deck! The instrument weights ~500lbs. and requires the ships A-frame to lift it! We only take the chirp out of the water when we need to perform maintenance, transit rapidly, or for weather.

Wayne Baldwin, Alex Nichols, and Brian Andrews get the 512i chirp subbottom profiler back on deck! The instrument weights ~500lbs. and requires the ships A-frame to lift it! We only take the chirp out of the water when we need to perform maintenance, transit rapidly, or for weather.

Before deploying the subbottom profiler for leg 2 of the Cape Cod Bay 2019 Survey, Wayne Baldwin, Alex Nichols, and Chuck Worley made sure that the floats are sufficiently inflated. In the relatively shallow waters of Cape Cod Bay we want the instrument towed at water's surface for the resolution of the sub seafloor geology.

Sunset photo taken during Cape Cod Bay sea-floor mapping cruise.