Images

Bird's eye view of the Great Salt Lake's railroad causeway, where pink hypersaline waters of the north arm meet the blue-green waters of the south arm. The breach in the causeway allows water exchange between the two sides.

A rocky causeway divides the waters of the Great Salt Lake, with distinct color variations visible between the north and south arms.

An adult female River Cooter, left, and an adult female federally-Threatened Ringed Map Turtle, right, bask in the sun near Covington, Louisiana. (Courtesy photo). 

A soil moisture data logger buried in the ground is a specialized instrument designed to measure and record the moisture content of soil over time. Here's how it generally functions:

This USGS webcam footage shows the Kennebec River in Augusta, Maine, flooding after a large coastal storm hit much of the East Coast and battered New England with heavy rains and winds. USGS image.

Learn more about this monitoring site.

Trent Watts, a USGS hydrologic technician, uses an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler to measure the amount of water flowing in Perkiomen Creek in Graterford, Pennsylvania, on December 18. USGS photo by Cameron Ensor.

The streets of Hallowell, Maine, were flooded following heavy rains that hit New England and most of the East Coast, December 18, 2023. USGS photo by Glenn Hodgkins

A cropped image of the topographic waves that can be found in the USGS visual identifier for use in thumbnails.

This photo shows a Firelighter, lighting a culturally prescribed fire on Yurok Land. The Yurok Tribe, native to the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, employs a unique and culturally significant method of fire management through the use of culturally prescribed burns.

Map shows geographic extent of the first-ever national baseline of consistent high-resolution elevations – both bare earth and 3D point clouds. FY23 projects are the result of partnership projects awarded through the 3DEP Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) and through on-going Federal coordination via the 3DEP working group.

Burying a data logger during a culturally prescribed burn is a strategic method used to protect this valuable equipment from the high temperatures and destructive potential of fire. Here's the reasoning behind this practice:

Staff from the USGS and Yurok Tribe working together in the Yurok Tribe Office. The Yurok Tribal Office on the Yurok Reservation is located in Klamath, California. It serves as the administrative hub for the Yurok Tribe, the largest Native American tribe in California.

The Yurok prairie habitat that the Roosevelt Elk inhabit is a significant part of their traditional lands in Northern California. This habitat primarily consists of expansive, open prairies mixed with forested areas, which are typical of the region along the Pacific Coast from Northern California to British Columbia.

A sediment core extracted from a salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. Credit: Kevin Kroeger, USGS.

A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands.

A salt marsh along the Herring River at the National Park Service’s Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts. USGS scientists and partners are applying the mineral olivine to the marsh to study its role in capturing carbon dioxide in tidal wetlands. Credit: Kevin Kroeger, USGS.

A view of the Grand Prismatic Hot Spring from the vantage point of the Grand Prismatic Overlook Trail in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. 

A picturesque shot of the sun setting while driving through north Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

A rainbow rises over Ledge Geyser in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. "Ledge is the second largest geyser in the Norris Geyser Basin, capable of shooting water 125 feet into the air. Because it erupts at an angle, however, the water will sometimes reach the ground 220 feet away." - NPS

A view of Castle Geyser erupting as a rainbow rises out and over the eruption. Castle Geyser is located in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

A herd of bison strolls through an open meadow close to sunset in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.