Images

A houseboat lies at anchor in the Florida Gas Canal. Houseboats are a common feature in the Atchafalaya Basin, where people live in them year round, or merely keep them as a hunting or vacation camp. Many of them are riding out the 2011 floodwaters by raising or lowering the mooring ropes that anchor them to trees.

Left to Right: Phil Turnipseed, T Bradley Keith

Invasive species Giant Salvinia, Hydrilla, and Water Hyacinth clog one end of Lake Murphy. Lake Murphy is home to these three of Louisiana’s most problematic invasive aquatic plant species. As the record-setting 2011 floodwaters push through the Atchafalaya Basin, USGS crews are monitoring these invasive species to see what effects the water have on them.

The Litttle Missouri River floods the camp facilities in Medora, ND.

Bridge over the little Missouri River at Medora, ND.

Yellowstone River is rising at Sidney, MT.

Water flowing through the Great Salt Lake breach in 2011, when lake levels were high due to above average snowfall in the Wasatch and Uinta Mountains. The Great Salt Lake breach is an area that allows water to travel between the southern and northern parts of the lake.

A camp lies flooded on the edge of the Florida Gas Canal. Rising floodwaters during the 2011 flood have inundated many hunting camps and residences. Flooded even before the additional water from the Morganza Spillway arrived, these camps were built on land that is usually well above the water level and safely back from the canal's edge.

A view of the north end of Lake Murphy on the East Side of the Atchafalaya Basin. This section of Lake Murphy is home to a stand of young cypress trees that have successfully colonized an area. Cypress trees are known as a climax species, as their presence often indicates an area that has stabilized with nutrients and water flow.

A herd of deer swim across the Atchafalaya River (Main Channel). Rising floodwaters have forced many creatures from their traditional habitats.  Deer, raccoons, alligators, and many other traditionally forest-dwelling creatures have been seen swimming across areas that had formerly been dry land.

A USGS streamgage station lies mostly submerged. Following rising floodwaters during the 2011 flood, USGS crews removed sensitive streamgage equipment and replaced them with special, pressure-operated streamgage monitoring equipment that could survive being inundated with water.

Left to Right: Bill Stiles, Penny Frederick, George Arcement, Dan Kroes, Phil Turnipseed

Ten minutes of larval sampling in the Missouri River on May 24, 2011, resulted in this mass of organic debris and fish eggs.

A USGS streamgage station lies mostly submerged. Following rising floodwaters during the 2011 flood, USGS crews removed sensitive streamgage equipment and replaced them with special, pressure-operated streamgage monitoring equipment that could survive being inundated with water.

USGS Louisiana Water Science Center Director George Arcement looks at a houseboat parked on the north end of Lake Murphy. Houseboats are a common feature in the Atchafalaya Basin, where people live in them year round, or merely keep them as a hunting or vacation camp.

Left to Right: Bill Stiles, Dan Kroes

A USGS streamgage station lies mostly submerged. Following rising floodwaters during the 2011 flood, USGS crews removed sensitive streamgage equipment and replaced them with special, pressure-operated streamgage monitoring equipment that could survive being inundated with water.

The Little Missouri River rising in Medora, ND.

A rare occurrence in the Missouri River, this Branchiopod known as a fairy shrimp was caught during larval sampling efforts near Arrow Rock, MO, on May 24, 2011. 

A Green sea turtle fitted with a USGS satellite tag on Loggerhead Key, Dry Tortugas National Park, Fl, USGS. Note: All marine turtle images taken in Florida were obtained with the approval of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Marine Turtle Permit 176 issued to K.M.

The contents of the net are flushed into the cod end, or the trailing end of the net where the fish are finally caught.  The cod is then emptied into black bowls for sorting.