Images

Invasive Giant Salvinia clogs one end of Lake Murphy. Lake Murphy is home to three of Louisiana's most problematic invasive aquatic plant species: Giant Salvinia, Water Hyacinth, and Hydrilla. As the record-setting 2011 floodwaters push through the Atchafalaya Basin, USGS crews are monitoring these invasive species to see what effects the water have on them.

Invasive species Giant Salvinia and Water Hyacinth clog one end of Lake Murphy. Lake Murphy is home to three of Louisiana’s most problematic invasive aquatic plant species: Giant Salvinia, Water Hyacinth, and Hydrilla.

A camp lies flooded on the edge of the Florida Gas Canal. Rising floodwaters during the 2011 flood have inundated many hunting camps and residences. Flooded even before the additional water from the Morganza Spillway arrived, these camps were built on land that is usually well above the water level and safely back from the canal's edge.

A houseboat lies at anchor in the Florida Gas Canal. Houseboats are a common feature in the Atchafalaya Basin, where people live in them year round, or merely keep them as a hunting or vacation camp. Many of them are riding out the 2011 floodwaters by raising or lowering the mooring ropes that anchor them to trees.

Left to Right: Phil Turnipseed, T Bradley Keith

Invasive species Giant Salvinia, Hydrilla, and Water Hyacinth clog one end of Lake Murphy. Lake Murphy is home to these three of Louisiana’s most problematic invasive aquatic plant species. As the record-setting 2011 floodwaters push through the Atchafalaya Basin, USGS crews are monitoring these invasive species to see what effects the water have on them.

Left to Right: Bill Stiles, Dan Kroes

A USGS streamgage station lies mostly submerged. Following rising floodwaters during the 2011 flood, USGS crews removed sensitive streamgage equipment and replaced them with special, pressure-operated streamgage monitoring equipment that could survive being inundated with water.

A camp lies flooded on the edge of the Florida Gas Canal. Rising floodwaters during the 2011 flood have inundated many hunting camps and residences. Flooded even before the additional water from the Morganza Spillway arrived, these camps were built on land that is usually well above the water level and safely back from the canal's edge.

A view of the north end of Lake Murphy on the East Side of the Atchafalaya Basin. This section of Lake Murphy is home to a stand of young cypress trees that have successfully colonized an area. Cypress trees are known as a climax species, as their presence often indicates an area that has stabilized with nutrients and water flow.

A herd of deer swim across the Atchafalaya River (Main Channel). Rising floodwaters have forced many creatures from their traditional habitats.  Deer, raccoons, alligators, and many other traditionally forest-dwelling creatures have been seen swimming across areas that had formerly been dry land.

A USGS streamgage station lies mostly submerged. Following rising floodwaters during the 2011 flood, USGS crews removed sensitive streamgage equipment and replaced them with special, pressure-operated streamgage monitoring equipment that could survive being inundated with water.

Left to Right: Bill Stiles, Penny Frederick, George Arcement, Dan Kroes, Phil Turnipseed

A USGS streamgage station lies mostly submerged. Following rising floodwaters during the 2011 flood, USGS crews removed sensitive streamgage equipment and replaced them with special, pressure-operated streamgage monitoring equipment that could survive being inundated with water.

USGS Louisiana Water Science Center Director George Arcement looks at a houseboat parked on the north end of Lake Murphy. Houseboats are a common feature in the Atchafalaya Basin, where people live in them year round, or merely keep them as a hunting or vacation camp.

A close-up of the spattering source on the floor of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater. A small spatter rampart has formed along the east side of the vent.

The 1940 cone, just above center, pokes up above the otherwise relatively flat floor of Moku‘āweoweo - the summit caldera of Mauna Loa. Mauna Kea rises up in the background.

View looking downslope at the various cones that dot Mauna Loa's Northeast Rift Zone. The edge of North Pit, on the north side of Moku‘āweoweo, is in the foreground.

Close-up of the 1949 cinder-and-spatter cone as seen from the floor of Moku‘āweoweo, Mauna Loa's summit caldera. pāhoehoe lava visible in the foreground (lower half of photo) was erupted in 1940. Beyond these flows, you can see pāhoehoe flows, spatter, and tephra erupted in 1949.

Aerial view of Mauna Loa's upper northeast rift zone near the area where it intersects Moku‘āweoweo, the summit caldera. Pāhoehoe flows visible in the foreground were erupted in 1942. Distant steep cliffs (right background) are the west wall of the summit caldera.

The 1949 cinder-and-spatter cone (left) and 1940 spatter cone (right) as seen from the floor of Mauna Loa's summit caldera, looking to the southwest. Pāhoehoe flows in the foreground were erupted in 1984.