Images

A USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory field team finishes the installation of the combined seismic/GPS station, YOCR, at Mount Hood, Oregon.

A Cascades Volcano Observatory field team completes the installation of the combined seismic/GPS station YOCR, at Mount Hood.

USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory Geophysicist Rebecca Kramer works on the installation of the GPS mast at new station LSON, at Mount Hood. The GPS measures subtle ground deformation that can occur in response to magma entering or leaving the magma reservoir several miles below the summit.

Combined seismic/GPS station LSON, on Mount Hood, installed at the end of September 2020. LSON is one of three new stations that enhance the existing monitoring network at this high-threat volcano.

View of the combined seismic/GPS station BRSP, on the north flank of Mount Hood, Oregon. Mount Hood is pictured in the distance.

A USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory field team waits on this remote north flank of Mount Hood, as a helicopter delivers supplies and equipment to station BRSP. The station was installed with minimal impact on the environment. A helicopter delivered equipment via external sling load and USGS personnel accessed the site by foot.

USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory Geophysicist Emily Montgomery-Brown uses a drill to create a small hole in volcanic rock that will support a GPS mast. The effort was part of a three-station installation project at Mount Hood in 2020. This station location is called BRSP.

Volcano Disaster Assistance Program Geophysicist Jeremy Pesicek digs a hole for a seismometer at station BRSP, on the north flank of Mount Hood. The seismometer, which detects earthquakes, is buried at a depth of at least 1 meter (3 feet).

USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory Geophysicist Wes Thelen, removes ropes from new station LSON, at Mount Hood (Mount Hood is pictured in the distance).

The USGS Coastal Change Hazards team collects data to monitor coastal change – including how storms and waves shape and reshape our beaches. It’s important to keep track of how beaches change over time because they provide habitat for many creatures including birds and sea turtles, and they are beautiful locations where people love to live and vacation.

This photo is the results of processing a time series of images, which are a combination of all image frames collected during a 10 to 17-minute video. These images are incredibly useful for studying coastal change remotely, but the usefulness of the image depends on how they are processed.

Justin Birchler, Physical Scientist with the USGS Coastal Change Hazards team conducts a beach profile survey at our field site on Madeira Beach. During these surveys, Justin wears a backpack with GPS equipment to collect elevation data that will be used to create a topographic map of the beach.

Throughout the historically active 2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season,USGS hydrologists have been working quickly to collect vital flood and streamflow information in impacted areas.

We conduct fieldwork in a variety of barrier island settings to understand the relative importance of these factors, including Fire Island, NY; Rockaway, NY; Seven Mile Island, NJ; and Cedar Island, VA.

In this NOAA satellite image from Sept. 15, 2020, Hurricane Sally approaches the U.S. Gulf Coast, Hurricane Paulettte creates storm waves far out in the Atlantic, and Tropical Storms Teddy and Vicky lie near the coast of Africa. Two tropical depressions are also developing; one of them is not visible in this image.

On the surface of Kīlauea's new landscape, a story is told

View of the 2018 Kīlauea caldera collapse structures from Kīlauea Overlook within Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park. USGS photo by K. Mulliken on Sept. 2, 2020.

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) Global Positioning System (GPS) survey near the coast in Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park on September 10, 2019 (USGS photo by P. Dotray).

This Coastal Change Storm Hazard Team forecast was made at 4 AM CDT August 26, 2020 and shows forecast beach erosion at the base of the dunes (the strip of colored bars closest to the coast), overwash (middle strip) and inundation (outer strip) from Hurricane Laura.  The model accounts for sandy beaches and barrier islands and does not include marshes,

Radar image of the May 17, 2018 eruption of ash from Halema‘uma‘u Crater. This image is a slice through the cloud at an altitude of 14,000 ft (4 km) above sea level at 4:12 a.m., HST. The colors scale is radar reflectivity, a measure of the size of the particles and their concentration within the ash cloud.

Nā‘ālehu radome, 39 ft (about 12 m) in diameter. The radar dish inside is 28 ft (8.5 m) across. USGS photo by C. Neal on July 27, 2019.