Images

Deployment period storm analysis. (A) significant wave height (red line) and wind speed and direction (arrows). Shading represents storm type (blue = cold front, red = warm front, yellow = low-pressure). (B) Vertical profiles of suspended-sediment concentration. (C) Cumulative along-shore and cross-shore sediment flux.

Map of Long Bay, S.C. study area

Study area map of coastal South Carolina

Stellwagen Bank project research areas in the United States and Canada

Steaming to the deployment site south of Martha's Vineyard, MA in 2011. The platform shown was specially adapted so the arm cycles up and down through the Benthic Boubdary Layer while deployed on the seafloor.  For more information see https://soundwaves.usgs.gov/2011/11/fieldwork2.html.

Nice photo-op of Healy with a striking background.

Ice conditions in the Arctic from CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent.

It is very unusual for large (400 ft) vessels to be so close together during normal science operations.  In this case, the skilled ship handling of the Captain from USCGC Healy enabled Healy to back within ~75 ft of Louis to clear ice around the bow of Louis, thereby releasing pressure and allowing her to move again.

USGS scientists test the moving arm bottom platform at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) dock.  While it was deployed, the system moved sensors through the bottom boundary layer and transmitted data in real time to shore via WHOI's Martha's Vineyard coastal observatory.

USGS scientists assembling a novel profiling arm to measure suspended sediment in the benthic boundary layer. This large seafloor platform was later deployed for several months off Martha's Vineyard, MA as part of the Optics Acoustics and Stress In Situ (OASIS) Project in 2011.

Nice photo-opportunity of USGS working near the North Pole!

USCG Healy is circling to pass CCGS Louis in order to break her free from the ice. The joint field program utilized two icebreakers so that the seismic vessel, with gear in the water behind the ship, could be broken free when the ice prevented her forward progress.

Deploying the airgun array from CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent. USCGC Healy can be seen in the background.

The airgun sled is painted orange and suspended from the A-frame.  The three airguns are suspended beneath the sled. The multichannel digital streamer (yellow cable going into the water from the sled) is towed from the the weighted sled to keep it under the ice. This photo shows the number of crew required to safely deploy the airgun sled.

CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent following the path created by USCGC Healy

USCG Healy is circling to pass CCGS Louis in order to break her free from the ice.  The joint field program utilized two icebreakers so that the seismic vessel, with gear in the water behind the ship, could be broken free when the ice prevented her forward progress.

A breach in the coastline of Rodanthe, North Carolina, caused by Hurricane Irene in 2011. Repeated storm impacts, combined with sea level rise, make the development and improvement of models that help forecast coastal change very important to planners working to build more resilient communities

Fog is common near open-water leads in the Arctic Ocean, and leaves ice everywhere aboard the ship.  A clear blue sky is a bright background to show the thick ice left after the fog lifted.

Electronics for controlling the moving arm in the open pressure housing.

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.