Images

Sinabung volcano in Indonesia on August 14, 2016. Photograph credit: Christoph Kern, USGS

Sinabung volcano in Indonesia on August 14, 2016. Photograph credit: Christoph Kern, USGS

Backwater flooding across Florida Blvd near the Amite River Bridge in Denham Springs, LA.

A flooded house near the confluence of the Comite and Amite Rivers near Denham Springs, LA.

A flooded neighborhood near the confluence of the Comite and Amite Rivers near Denham Springs, LA. 

USGS scientists prepare water-quality instruments before going out on the Great Salt Lake. USGS scientists are conducting a study to gain a better understanding of nutrient levels, which could help determine how to best manage algal bloom outbreaks.

USGS scientists conducting a study on the Great Salt Lake to gain a better understanding of nutrient levels, which could help determine how to best manage algal bloom outbreaks.

USGS scientists conducting a study on the Great Salt Lake to gain a better understanding of nutrient levels, which could help determine how to best manage algal bloom outbreaks.

USGS scientists use multiple high-frequency water quality instruments contained in a cage to measure nutrients and algal changes in surface water. Scientists are conducting an experimental study on two Utah water bodies to gain a better understanding of nutrient levels, which could help determine how to best manage algal bloom outbreaks.

USGS scientists Christopher L. Shope, Bryan Downing, Katy O'Donnell and Mike Freeman measure nutrient levels in Goggin Drain, Utah. USGS scientists are conducting an experimental study on two Utah water bodies to gain a better understanding of nutrient levels, which could help determine how to best manage algal bloom outbreaks.

USGS scientist Mike Freeman measures nutrient levels in Goggin Drain, Utah. USGS scientists are conducting an experimental study on two Utah water bodies to gain a better understanding of nutrient levels, which could help determine how to best manage algal bloom outbreaks.

USGS scientists Christopher L. Shope, Bryan Downing, Katy O'Donnell and Mike Freeman measure nutrient levels in Goggin Drain, Utah. USGS scientists are conducting an experimental study on two Utah water bodies to gain a better understanding of nutrient levels, which could help determine how to best manage algal bloom outbreaks.

USGS scientists Bryan Downing, Mike Freeman and Katy O'Donnell measure nutrient levels in Goggin Drain, Utah. USGS scientists are conducting an experimental study on two Utah water bodies to gain a better understanding of nutrient levels, which could help determine how to best manage algal bloom outbreaks.

USGS Biologist Sabrina Davenport prepares to release a reproductive female pallid sturgeon.

USGS Biologist prepares to artificially spawn a female lake sturgeon in the laboratory at the Columbia Environmental Research Center.

Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute researchers launch the long-range autonomous underwater vehicle Tethys from the research vessel Paragon in Monterey Bay. This AUV travels through the water without direct control from shore, collecting information about the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the surrounding seawater.

MBARI researchers with three long-range autonomous underwater vehicles on the Research Vessel Paragon.

Tethys, MBARI's long-range AUV, at sea in Monterey Bay.

 Led by USGS scientist Cynthia Gardner, GeoGirls collect and sort sediments from the shore of Coldwater Lake, near Mount St. Helens, examining evidence of the May 18, 1980 landslide that dammed Coldwater Creek to create the lake.

Organics analytical section, USGS National Water Quality Laboratory, Lakewood Colorado, 2016. Photograph by Mark Nilles, U.S. Geological Survey

The information collected by advanced technologies, like this uncrewed underwater vehicle, can be used by managers to sustain and support the Great Lakes’ valuable natural resources.