Images

The Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI) incorporates satellite observations of vegetation to monitor at a finer spatial detail than other commonly used drought indicators.

Native Americans of the Miwok tribe in the northern Sierra Nevada, California carved these basins into the granite bedrock to produce salt for trade. They filled the basins with water from a salt spring and let the water evaporate, leaving a salt residue in the basin.

Many species of birds rely on wetlands such as this bald cypress swamp, one of the ecosystems currently being studied by scientists at the USGS NWRC.

Collecting samples (sediment, aquatic vegetation, benthic invertebrates, zooplankton, forage fish, and predatory fish) to evaluate δ 15N ratios in the food web within Liberty Bay to evaluate urbanization effects on the nearshore ecosystem. (Coastal Habitats in Puget Sound program).

USGS employees attempt to capture forage fish with the use of a Lampara net in Skagit Bay.

Honeycomb weathering of sandstone located on the shores of Puget Sound occurs when expanding salt crystals break fragments of rock, creating a small hole that becomes larger as the process repeats itself over time.

The ochre sea star is a common starfish found along the shores of Puget Sound.  This intertidal dweller feeds primarily on mussels and snails, and may live as long as twenty years.

Sunrise on an evapotranspiration-monitoring site in a riparian grassland along the Platte River, Nebraska on September 25, 2007.

I took this picture while setting up a study of this invasive spp.  Of snail. 

Photo of observation well, pressure transducer, and electric water-level tape in Norman, Oklahoma.

USGS Hydrologists using the USGS Well Flowmeter and Downhole Sampler on a well in Moore, Oklahoma. More info can be found in Fact Sheet 2005-3111 (PDF).

Researchers are installing an underwater microscope on the R/V Theodore H. Schmudde.

An aerial view of subsiding marshes in the Mississippi River Delta. An aerial view of subsiding marshes in the Mississippi River Delta. This region contains vast areas of marshes, swamps, and barrier islands—important habitat for wildlife, as nursery grounds for marine life, and as protective buffers against storms and hurricanes.

USGS scientists Paul Frederick and Mike Descant make sure there is enough clearance for their boat to drive under a bridge on the Atchafalaya River near Melville, La. 

A reptilian audience watches as a discharge measurement is made.

Scientist measures the profile of a tidal creek at low tide.  Note main Shark River off to the right side of photo.

Scientists set up to measure flow from a mangrove forest.

Adelaide Baker returns from sampling water at Harney Lake, a shallow alkali lake, in Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

USGS Provides a tour of the research vessel and the lower Columbia River to Deputy Assistant Secretary Deanna Archuleta discussing the lower Columbia River estuary water quality and aquatic health.

A lower Columbia River estuary tour on a USGS research vessel with NWA Deputy REx and WFRC Director.

Guests arrive at the Elwha Dam for the ceremony commemorating the official start of the dam decommissioning and river restoration project on the Elwha River in Washington state.