Images

Using the device pictured here, government scientists are measuring snowfall in remote areas with a bucket, a small windmill, and the sun -- all the while saving money, energy, and ultimately helping to save lives.

Showing the son of a USGS employee "what we do" on the Tangipahoa R., LA

Malik Chavis wants to work for the USGS.

USGS Volcano Disaster Assistance Program Representative (VDAP) Gari Mayberry presents the draft VDAP report to President Kikwete of Tanzania with the Charge d'Affairs Larry Andre.

In Hurricane Hole, Red Mangrove trees extend from land into the water, anchoring the trees along the shoreline and creating a rich marine ecosystem.

The village of Naiyobi, about 5 miles from the summit of Ol Doinyo Lengai, has had ashfall from recent eruptions that have impacted residents and their cattle.

Scientists from the Volcano Disaster Assistance Program team and the Geological Survey of Tanzania take a sample of the most recent ashfall from Ol Doinyo Lengai as the volcano looms in the background.

USGS Scientist David Sherrod and a guide complete digging for ash samples from the most recent eruption of Ol Doinyo Lengai Volcano in Tanzania.

Hummingbirds traditionally wintering in the tropics now routinely winter along the northern Gulf of Mexico coast

USGS Scientist David Sherrod surveys Ol Doinyo Lengai Volcano in Tanzania with scientists from the Geological Survey of Tanzania and local villagers.

USGS volcanologist David Sherrod discusses activity at Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano with the Director of the Tanzanian Geological Survey, Abdul Mruma, as a local Maasai woman observes.

Prop roots of the Red Mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) tree create thickets that harbor a wide variety of creatures both above and below the water.

A view of red mangrove trees and their prop roots above and below the water surface.

Trunks of forest trees, initially growing on a terrace above the Sandy River (Oregon) at Oxbow Regional Park, were buried by rapid deposition of sediment following a dome-building eruption at Mount Hood in 1781. Erosion during a flood about a week before the photo was taken exposed this "ghost forest".  

Trunks of forest trees, initially growing on a terrace above the Sandy River (Oregon) at Oxbow Regional Park, were buried by rapid deposition of sediment following a dome-building eruption at Mount Hood in 1781. Erosion during a flood about a week before the photo was taken exposed this "ghost forest".  

The Colorado River runs dry on the U.S./Mexico border 2
miles below the Morelos Dam.

USGS Scientist Gari Mayberry discusses the volcano hazards in Tanzania with a scientist from the Geological Survey of Tanzania.

The United States Capitol building and the presidential inauguration swearing-in stand.

Prop roots extending into the water column are commonly colonized by a variety of colorful and bizarrely-shaped sponges.

A grooved brain coral, a massive starlet coral and a boulder brain coral growing under mangrove prop roots.

An adult male elephant seal at Año Nuevo State Natural Reserve in California. This "loser" has been pushed out to the periphery of the mating bull's harem.