Images

Tatqiq, an adult female polar bear at the San Diego Zoo, wearing an accelerometer collar being used to develop a method to remotely identify wild polar bear behaviors.

Black-footed albatross with chick, nesting black-footed albatrosses are especially vulnerable to sea-level rise and sudden flooding on low-lying islands.

Location: Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge

Tatqiq, an adult female polar bear at the San Diego Zoo, wearing an accelerometer collar being used to develop a method to remotely identify wild polar bear behaviors.

A U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist holds a centrifuge bowl containing river suspended sediment for analysis of metals and organic chemicals. The sample was collected using a new in-field continuous-flow centrifugation technique to separate and collect suspended sediment from large volumes of water.

Frac sands courtesy of Unimin Energy Solutions.

Frac sands courtesy of Unimin Energy Solutions.

A U.S. Geological Survey streamflow gaging station collects water data on the Trask River. The Trask River gage is located near Tillamook, Ore. and has been in operation for 17 years.  

Trask River stage, discharge, and water-quality data are collected and used together to help monitor the current health of the river. Data from the river are sent to equipment in the gage house, where it is stored then transmitted to USGS servers. 

On January 14, 2015, hydrologic technicians Jeff Kinsey (shown) and Nick Stasulis visited USGS gaging station 01030500 on the Mattawamkeag River.

Collecting a microplastics sample using a neuston net, Milwaukee River, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The Garden Wall Weather Station is situated below the Garden Wall and adjacent to the Haystack Creek avalanche path in Glacier National Park. It provides meteorological data for avalanche forecasting and research, including wind speed and direction, air temperature, relative humidity, and net radiation measurements.

Sample graphic of airborne lidar data acquisition. Target area is illuminated by pulsed laser light in the aircraft, Differences in laser return times and wavelengths are then used to make digital 3D representations of the selected ground sections.

A 3D Elevation Program lidar point cloud showing simulated flooding (in blue) of an area in Denver, Colorado

Microplastics, organic material, and other debris in a sample from the Milwaukee River, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Brian Selck, a USGS National Association of Geoscience Teachers intern, collects a water level measurement from a domestic well at a site north of Jersey Shore in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, June 2014.

Both irrigation wells and municipal wells affect water levels in the Little Plover River, Wisconsin. 

USGS biologists surveying for bullfrogs at Two Moon Park, Billings, MT.

USGS scientists Pete Lenaker and Nic Buer collect a microplastic sample at the Manitowoc River, Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

Aerial photo of the Oso, Washington landslide in 2014. The red arrows show the direction of material flow. The inset lidar image was derived from 3DEP data collected by the Washington Department of Transportation.

This green tree frog (Hyla cinerea) sits on the lip of a pitcher plant in a bog in Alabama. The frog was down in the pitcher plant, but moved up to rest on its edge as the photographer approached.