Images

The narrow waters of Drake's Passage separate the U.S. Virgin Islands (foreground) from the British Virgin Islands in the distance.

Papaya tree (Carica papaya) with multiple unripened papayas growing in Virgin Islands National Park.

The narrow waters of Drake's Passage separate the U.S. Virgin Islands (foreground) from the British Virgin Islands in the distance.

The Needles District, Canyonlands National Park. 

The Needles District, Canyonlands National Park

Graduate students hold a female king eider captured in June 2008 in northern Alaska. Researchers band the birds with a numbered metal band that allows individual identification. Female king eiders return to the same nesting area every year.

Graduate students take morphological measurements of every bird to estimate whether size affects migration strategy. Researchers measure the culmen length of a male king eider.

A sign from a rural home owner giving thanks to fire fighters who battled the Little Wolf fire that burned 15,000 acres in Western Montana in 1994. Wildfires continue to burn thousands of acres of forests and grassland along with homes each year across the nation.

Graduate student, Megan Jones, changes the batteries on a remote sensor camera used to monitor predator movement in Conservation Reserve Program fields in southwest Wisconsin.

Photograph of the Old Faithful Geyser erupting in Yellowstone Nationl Park. Old Faithful was named in 1870 during the Washburn-Langford-Doane Yellowstone expedition and was the first geyser in the Park to be named.

Photograph of the Old Faithful Geyser erupting in Yellowstone Nationl Park. Old Faithful was named in 1870 during the Washburn-Langford-Doane Yellowstone expedition and was the first geyser in the Park to be named.

USGS dive team members Marc Blouin and Glen Black carrying an ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler) into Lake Michigan to measure currents throughout the summer season in order to improve predictive modeling at recreational beaches and better predict E. coli concentrations in the water, therefore improve safety of swimmers.

An apartment building's damaged staircase seen from the outside.

Partially collapsed residential building in Pengzhou.

Collapsed brick wall alongside a Pengzhou street.

Man standing in front of collapsed home in Pengzhou.

Collapsed brick garages in Pengzhou.

Long crack stretching over facade of apartment building in Pengzhou.

Collapsed garage roof in Pengzhou.

Damaged residential building in Pengzhou.

Partially collapsed residential building in Mianyang.