Images

Kīlauea Volcano's summit vent within Halema‘uma‘u Crater was more than 500 feet across in March 2013, five years after it opened.

Ticks spread the widest variety of diseases that are harmful to humans, including Lyme disease. This image shows an adult female blacklegged tick, or deer tick.

Myotis septentrionalis, northern myotis (Vespertilionidae) with growth of Geomyces destructans clearly evident.

USGS hydrologic technician Amy Simonson surveying a high-water mark on Liberty Island, New York.

USGS hydrologic technician Amy Simonson surveying a high-water mark on Liberty Island, New York.

USGS hydrologic technician Amy Simonson surveying a high-water mark on Liberty Island, New York.

USGS hydrologist Michael Noll surveying a high-water mark on Ellis Island, New York.

USGS hydrologic technician Amy Simonson surveying a high-water mark on Liberty Island, New York.

Parasitic mouth of the invasive sea lamprey

Oilfield waste arrives by tanker truck at a wastewater disposal facility near Platteville, Colo. After removal of solids and oil, the wastewater is injected into a deep well for permanent storage underground. This disposal process has the potential to trigger earthquakes, but very few wastewater disposal wells produce earthquakes.

Oilfield waste arrives by tanker truck at a wastewater disposal facility near Platteville, Colo. After removal of solids and oil, the wastewater is injected into a deep well for permanent storage underground. This disposal process has the potential to trigger earthquakes, but very few wastewater disposal wells produce earthquakes.

CRSP biologists travelled along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers in search of usable boat ramps.  Pictured is a ramp Grand Tower, IL.

CRSP biologists travelled along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers in search of usable boat ramps.  Pictured is a ramp located near Cape Girardeau, MO.

Bureau of Land Management truck sprays herbicide in southwestern Idaho as part of a restoration effort. 

An examination of long-term data for lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management finds that land treatments in the southwestern United States are increasingly large, expensive and related to fire and invasive species control.

Live Lophelia pertusa is white because the calcium carbonate skeleton shows through the nonpigmented coral tissue. Dead coral is soon covered in a brown biofilm. The red-orange squat lobster (Eumunida picta) in the center of the photo is prepared to catch its dinner.

Close-up image of the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa, with polyps extended. The coral polyps eat by grabbing tiny suspended particulates (visible against the dark water background). The bright orange claws of a squat lobster (Eumunida picta) can be seen peeking out from behind the coral branches.

Climate change projections indicate a steady increase in temperature progressing through the 21^st century, generally resulting in snowpack reductions, changes to the timing of snowmelt, altered streamflows, and reductions in soil moisture, all of which could affect water management, agriculture, recreation, hazard mitigation, and ecosystems across the nat

Sand dunes in Avon on Cape Hatteras, NC are the only separation between many beach house communities and the Atlantic Ocean. 

Clark's grebe sitting on a nest at Thermalito Afterbay, California.

Mount Hood in the not-so-far distance beyond downtown Portland, Oregon. Photograph taken at the top of the Portland Aerial Tram line on Marquam Hill.

A fish (Gephyroberyx darwinii) peeks through a forest of soft corals and anemones at about 300 meters in depth in the Gulf of Mexico.