Images

A 3-D terrestrial LiDAR scan of the Percy Quin Mississippi State Park Dam in McComb, Mississippi, taken Monday, September 3, 2012. The U.S. Geological Survey is using this new technology in select areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to map impacts by Hurricane Isaac.

A 3-D terrestrial lidar scan of the Interstate-510 bridge in New Orleans taken Friday (Aug. 31, 2012). The U.S. Geological Survey is using this new technology in select areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to map flooding in urban areas impacted by Hurricane Isaac.

WOlf River near Landon, MS; Mack Moss measuring overflow during Harricane Issac.

Surface flows remain active on the pali and coastal plain, but have not made significant progress towards the ocean. On today's field visit, the closest flows to the ocean were about 2 km (1.2 miles) from the water. This image shows a pāhoehoe breakout at the flow front, with a rigid ropy section of crust being carried forward by the flowing lava beneath it.

Smaller version of Colored Shaded-Relief Bathymetry (Sheet 1) from USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3225, California State Waters Map Series—Hueneme Canyon and Vicinity, California, as an example of the different kinds of maps (“sheets”) produced within a coastal map “block”.

Smaller version of Acoustic Backscatter (Sheet 3) from USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3225, California State Waters Map Series—Hueneme Canyon and Vicinity, California, as an example of the different kinds of maps (“sheets”) produced within a coastal map “block”.

Smaller version of Seafloor Character (Sheet 5) from USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3225, California State Waters Map Series—Hueneme Canyon and Vicinity, California, as an example of the different kinds of maps (“sheets”) produced within a coastal map “block”.

Smaller version of Seismic-Reflection Profiles (Sheet 8) from USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3225, California State Waters Map Series—Hueneme Canyon and Vicinity, California, as an example of the different kinds of maps (“sheets”) produced within a coastal map “block”.

Smaller version of Detailed Geology and Geomorphology (Sheet 11) from USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3225, California State Waters Map Series—Hueneme Canyon and Vicinity, California, as an example of the different kinds of maps (“sheets”) produced within a coastal map “block”.

Smaller version of Predicted Distribution of Benthic Macro-Invertebrates (Sheet 12) from USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3225, California State Waters Map Series—Hueneme Canyon and Vicinity, California, as an example of the different kinds of maps (“sheets”) produced within a coastal map “block”.

Smaller version of Data Integration and Visualization (Sheet 4) from USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3225, California State Waters Map Series—Hueneme Canyon and Vicinity, California, as an example of the different kinds of maps (“sheets”) produced within a coastal map “block”.

Smaller version of Ground-Truth Studies (Sheet 6) from USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3225, California State Waters Map Series—Hueneme Canyon and Vicinity, California, as an example of the different kinds of maps (“sheets”) produced within a coastal map “block”.

Smaller version of Shaded-Relief Bathymetry (Sheet 2) from USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3225, California State Waters Map Series—Hueneme Canyon and Vicinity, California, as an example of the different kinds of maps (“sheets”) produced within a coastal map “block”.

Smaller version of Local and Regional Shallow-Subsurface Geology and Structure (Sheet 9) from USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3225, California State Waters Map Series—Hueneme Canyon and Vicinity, California, as an example of the different kinds of maps (“sheets”) produced within a coastal map “block”.

Smaller version of Potential Marine Benthic Habitats (Sheet 7) from USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3225, California State Waters Map Series—Hueneme Canyon and Vicinity, California, as an example of the different kinds of maps (“sheets”) produced within a coastal map “block”.

Smaller version of Offshore and Onshore Geology and Geomorphology (Sheet 10) from USGS Scientific Investigations Map 3225, California State Waters Map Series—Hueneme Canyon and Vicinity, California, as an example of the different kinds of maps (“sheets”) produced within a coastal map “block”.

Technology today: Geologist working at a Global Positioning System station on Mount St. Helens, Washington.

This false-color image was captured on August 19 by NASA's Earth Observing 1 satellite using the Advanced Land Imager sensor. The image consists of several near-infrared and shortwave infrared channels combined in such a way as to mimic those colors expected by the human eye, with vegetation green, lava flow fields black and active surface lava flows as red.

A conference this week in Waikōloa will examine how Hawaiian volcanoes work, from their source deep within the Earth to the eruption of gas and lava at the surface. The conference is hosted by the American Geophysical Union and organized by scientists from the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and the University of Hawai‘i at Hilo.

The USGS, in collaboration with UNAVCO and the University of Colorado, uses these data to measure channel erosion and deposition in the reach.

USGS Geologist Robert Witter documenting tsunami scour features near Stardust Bay, Alaska. Conditions in the Aleutian Islands can be wet and windy for days on end.

Location: Stardust Bay, Sedanka Island, Alaska