Images

Numerical model grids showing downscaling from larger regional grid (far right) to more refined coastal grid (left). Colors are bathymetry (m).

Example of a rip current experiment. Colors show bathymetry and arrows show velocity vectors after 1 h of model simulation. Similar to results in Kumar and others, 2012.

Map of Fire Island, N.Y. study area

Map showing Holocene (modern) sediment thickness in meters overlain on bathymetry. Regional bathymetric contours are in meters. Note the shoreface-attached sand ridges west of Watch Hill.

Cape Hatteras, N.C.

Oceanographic equipment recovery 

Map C.  Backscatter intensity and sun-illuminated topography.  Blue= "soft" seabed, Green, orange = "hard" seabed

Worldwide distribution of observed and inferred gas hydrates in marine and permafrost-associated settings that have been the subject of drilling programs. The color coding refers to the primary sediment type in each location and therefore designates the likely type of gas hydrate reservoir at each site.

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.