Images

Sandy Brosnahan performing first solo flight as a USGS certified drone pilot.  There are multiple exciting applications for drone imagery including erosion studies and physical changes to coastal ecosystems over time. 

Browse graphic of point cloud data from low altitude aerial imagery from unmanned aerial system flights over Coast Guard Beach, Eastham, MA

Neil Ganju (standing) and Patrick Dickhudt preparing an oceanographic platform to measure wetland sediment transport in Forsythe NWR, New Jersey

Kathryn Smith of the USGS St.

Sunset at Sage Lot Pond Salt Marsh Observatory marks the end of 16 hour field effort. During this sampling, USGS researchers captured the exchange of materials between the marsh and estuary. This field site provides infrastructure to keep sensors deployed nearly year-round so changes across seasons and extreme events, such as large storms, are captured.

High tides are one challenge of working in tidal wetlands! Here the marsh platform is completely submerged during a spring tide. The boardwalk, which scientists use to access the site, is also under water during this extreme high tide, while the solar panels powering some instruments remain dry.

Wally Brooks records water quality data from a salt marsh creek (Cape Cod, MA)

USGS scientists doing real time kinematic measurements with a GPS pole on intertidal section of beach.

Polar bear lounging on Alaska’s north coast.

Resurrection Bay on August 8, 2016. The water appeared calm in the shelter of the inner bay, but closer to the entrance, swells coming in from the Gulf of Alaska were breaking on a small beach where the three boaters had capsized.

Seth Ackerman, Sea-Floor Mapping Group Geologist, answering questions about Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center’s underwater video capabilities and data collection tools.

Tarandeep Kalra, Sediment Transport Group Scientific Programmer, setting up computer-generated simulations from a three-dimensional modeling system. This was a display at the Woods Hole Science Stroll on August 6, 2016.

USGS and collaborators from Marine Biological Laboratory and Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve building research infrastructure at a salt marsh field site (Cape Cod, MA).

Photograph of a restored tidal restriction at Bass Creek, Cape Cod, MA.

Digital still photograph from Massachusetts Bay near Scituate, MA showing Spiny Sunstar (Crossaster papposus), yellow encrusting Crumb of Bread Sponge (Halichondria panacea) on rock (top center), white tubular (right bottom corner) and boulders covered in pink bubblegum algae. Water depth at this location is approximately 27 meters.

Ox Bel Ha Cave Project Field Team Members (left to right) David Brankovits (TAMUG), Jake Emmert (Moody Gardens), John Pohlman (USGS), and Francisco Bautista De La Cruz (Speleotech).

USGS scientists discuss coastal change with uniformed NPS resource managers on a barrier island beach.

Photograph of salt marsh vegetation at a coring site near Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island

Marinna Martini is deploying a weather buoy off the coast of Plymouth Ma.

A specialized wave buoy was deployed at the site farthest from shore to measure the height, period, and direction of surface waves and telemeter the data to the Coastal Data Information Program (CDIP)

USGS scientists are working to model shorebird habitat availability both today and in the future, given processes like sea-level rise, in an effort to support the efficient management of beaches for both people and nesting shorebirds.

USGS scientists are working to model shorebird habitat availability both today and in the future, given processes like sea-level rise, in an effort to support the efficient management of beaches for both people and nesting shorebirds.