Multimedia Gallery

More accurate predictions of future climate and improved understanding of today’s warming are possible with new data from the first comprehensive reconstruction of an extreme warm period. Past warm periods provide real data on climate change and are natural laboratories for understanding the global climate system. USGS scientists Harry Dowsett and Marci Robinson discuss

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Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne and USGS Director Mark Myers reflect on the successes of The Great Southern California ShakeOut—the largest earthquake preparedness drill in U.S. history.

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The USGS estimates that there are 85.4 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable gas from natural gas hydrates on the Alaskan North Slope. This is the first-ever resource estimate of technically recoverable natural gas hydrates in the world.

This assessment shows that gas hydrates could add significantly to the U.S. energy mix. The Alaskan North

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A blazing start to the southern California wildfire season! A number of powerful and destructive earthquakes around the world! The largest earthquake drill in US history just around the corner! 

In general, the magma (molten rock) in volcanoes ranges from...

Early this morning, October 29, 2008, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck near Quetta, Pakistan. Twelve hours later, a second 6.4 struck in the same area. Dr. Harley Benz, Scientist-in-Charge at the USGS National Earthquake Information Center, fills us in with the details.

Coral reefs can be damaged by natural processes, such as storms, but they are increasingly at risk from human activities. Oil spills and pollutants...

Remote sensing is the gathering of information about the Earth from a distance. Information can be collected about...

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Hurricane Gustav; Hurricane Ike; Real-time storm surge sensors; Gulf coast impacts and satellite imagery; hurricane photography; Great California ShakeOut

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Long-standing farming practices in California's Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta expose fragile peat soils to wind, rain and cultivation, emit carbon dioxide (CO2) and cause land subsidence. To capture or contain the carbon, farmers would ‘grow’ wetlands. In doing so, they would begin to rebuild the Delta's unique peat soils, take CO2 out of the atmosphere, ease pressure

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The last week in September is known as Sea Otter Awareness Week throughout California. To bring more attention to the issues surrounding the sea otter and its ongoing recovery from near extinction, we interviewed Tim Tinker, USGS lead sea-otter researcher. Video also provided in the Transcript/Links section.

The last week in September is known as Sea Otter Awareness Week throughout California. To bring more attention to the issues surrounding the sea otter and its ongoing recovery from near extinction, we interviewed Tim Tinker, USGS lead sea-otter researcher. Video also provided in the Transcript/Links section.

The last week in September is known as Sea Otter Awareness Week throughout California. To bring more attention to the issues surrounding the sea otter and its ongoing recovery from near extinction, we interviewed Tim Tinker, USGS lead sea-otter researcher. Video also provided in the Transcript/Links section.

Do you want to know what it sounds like to break ice in the Arctic Ocean? This audio file is of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy doing exactly that. This recording was taken outside on the ship's bow, so you can hear the ice breaking on the ship and the wind in the background. We can hear similar sounds in the messdeck, gym, and other places throughout the ship

The multibeam sends out a soft ping (12 kilohertz) and the sub-bottom profiler emits a chirp sound (3.5 kilohertz). These sound signals are sent from the ship into the seafloor and the return signals that bounce back are used to determine ocean depth. Some of you, but not all of you, will be able to hear the ping immediately (about half a second) before the chirp. I can

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