Images

House engulfed by debris flows generated in response to a rainstorm on February 6, 2010. This house was west of Briar Wood Canyon in southern California. The small, but steep and rugged drainage basin above this home was burned the previous summer by the Station Fire, the largest fire in the history of Los Angeles County.

House damaged by debris flows generated in Mullally Canyon in response to a rainstorm on February 6, 2010. The drainage basin above this home was burned the previous summer by the Station Fire, the largest fire in the history of Los Angeles County.

The USGS gages the Wild River at Gilead, Maine at station 01054200. This photo was taken during a winter trip to the site. During this trip, the gage equipment was checked and a discharge measurement was made by drilling holes through the ice and lowering velocity meters into the water.

Graduate student Allison Payne (USGS ARRA student appointment) uses a binocular microscope to pick out minerals that contain tiny melt inclusions from 2009 Redoubt tephra samples. Melt inclusions are then analyzed with a SHRIMP - Sensitive High Resolution Ion Microprobe - for their volatile (H2O and CO2) content.

Vehicles crushed beneath the second story balcony of the Hotel D'Haiti located in Port-au-Prince. This entire hotel with more than 50 rooms was destroyed as a result of the magnitude-7 earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010.

Massive rock slides were caused by strong ground shaking during the main shock of the magnitude-7 earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010 and several of the stronger aftershocks. This mountain road leads north to the city of Dufort, located near the larger city of Leogane.

Collapsed multi-story residence in Port-au-Prince following the magnitude-7 earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010. The weight of heavy concrete floors and roofs was often too great for the modest strength in support columns, as evidenced here.

This young girl stands in front of a massive crack in the road on highway Nationale 2 near Petit Gaove, Haiti. The highway collapse was caused by lateral spreading of the underlying soil during the magnitude-7 earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010.

The epicenter of the magnitude-7 earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010 is shown in this photo below the highest peak in the center of the view. The mapped Enriquillo fault zone comes towards the viewer in the low-lying hills and passes north (left) of the deforested clearing in the foreground.

USGS seismologist Dr. Walter D. Mooney (in white hat) stands with young men and sponsor, Mr. Jeff Southern (far right, with baseball cap) at the ‘Servants of All' orphanage in Grand Goave, Haiti, located about 40 miles west of Port-au-Prince.

A real view of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, looking southeast with the port in the foreground and main city residences and other buildings showing as white in the center. Many of the neighborhoods with the heaviest destruction from the magnitude-7 earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010 are included in this view.

USGS seismoogists Dr. Walter Mooney completes the installation of a sensitive temporary seismograph to record earthquake aftershocks. The seismograph is installed in a small storage room in a small village. The cable leads to an outdoor antenna that provides accurate time via a GPS signal.

A Pacific chorus frog (Pseudacris regilla) in a meadow located in Point Reyes National Seashore.

Collapsed multi-story building occupied by "Centre D'Edudes La Concorde" in Port-au-Prince, a result of the magnitude-7 earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010. An examination of the adjacent buildings indicates that this structure was either two or three stories tall.

Not all places of business or residence collapsed or suffered serious damage following the magnitude-7 earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010. Here, an auto parts store in Port-au-Prince is open for business on January 28, 2010, sixteen days after the earthquake. This street still contains trash and litter due to lack of public services.

USGS seismologist Dr. Walter Mooney (with white hat in left hand) together with residents of a village were a seismographic station was installed, following the magnitude-7 earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, 2010.

Undergraduate student Janelle Dyer (USGS ARRA student appointment) performs an ash leachate test on Redoubt ash in the Alaska Tephra Laboratory and Data Center in Anchorage, Alaska. This test is done to analyze the geochemical reaction between volcanic ash and drinking water sources during eruptions.

Mangrove islands bespeckle the bay in upper Lostman's River.

Eco-Hydrologist Karen Balentine measures sediment elevation in at juncus stand in Everglades National Park.

Severe coastal bluff erosion, along the southern end of Ocean Beach, San Francisco, California. This storm damage occurred during the 2009-2010 El Niño, which, on average, eroded the shoreline 55 meters that winter.

View of the Aucilla River along the Florida Trail near Scanlon.  Location of a now-discontinued USGS gage.