Multimedia Gallery

The alfalfa leafcutting bee (Megachile rotundata) is an introduced species common to Southwest Idaho. They originate from the old world, most likely from northeastern Africa or the Middle East. These bees are successful pollinators of various crops and have been imported to North America for use in agriculture and beekeeping.

The newest Fire Island coastal system research is focused on integrating information across research themes.

For more than 15 years, the USGS has actively studied natural and human changes to the shoreline, beaches, and dunes at Fire Island. This research program has refined our understanding of the long (decades to centuries)- and short-term (storm events, seasons, years) geomorphological changes on the barrier island that influence natural, cultural, and recreational resources

 Photo collage of images from Fire Island showing dunes and beaches

See data for USGS gage 15275100 Chester Creek at Arctic Boulevard at Anchorage, AK.

Fire Island is a 50-km long barrier island along the south shore of Long Island, NY. The island is comprised of seventeen year-round communities; federal, state, and county parks; and supports distinct ecosystems alongside areas of economic and cultural value. In addition to providing resources to its residents, the barrier island also protects the heavily-populated

 Department of Interior UAS pilots from left to right – Elizabeth Pendleton (USGS, Woods Hole, MA), Colin Milone (Office of Aviation Services, AK), John Vogel (USGS; Flagstaff, AZ), Sandy Brosnahan (USGS, Woods Hole, MA), Brandon Forbes (USGS; Tuscon, AZ), Chris Holmquist-Johnson

Turbines at a wind energy site on Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi.

Bat detection and monitoring equipment set up below a turbine at an Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi wind energy site.

A wind turbine rising above Oʻahu trees forms part of a wind energy installation where USGS bat research is taking place.

In an effort spanning the Natural Hazards and Ecosystems Mission Areas, pilots from the Saint Petersburg and Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Centers collect imagery data using Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) while personnel from the Wetlands and Aquatic Research Center (WARC) conduct ground-based site surveys of Pelican Island, Alabama. These data are being combined to

A USGS electronics technician performs maintenance on a ShakeAlert Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) sensor station, located in the San Francisco Bay Area. ShakeAlert station components include strong-motion accelerometers, solar panel and battery power systems, and communications & telemetry equipment for communication with the wider ShakeAlert network. 

October 2018 Photo Contest Honorable Mention #2
Taken by: Paul Joseph Shea
Description: USFACE

The nighttime Oakland city skyline as seen from San Francisco with the Bay Bridge in the foreground

Maintenance of high quality ShakeAlert sensor, power and telemetry station in the San Francisco Bay Area in California.

Maintenance of a high-quality ShakeAlert sensors, power and telemetry stations in Portland, OR.

Data show that use of saline groundwater has been increasing since 1985.

Source: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Brackish water desalination facility in Harlingen, Texas. The plant was built in 2007 and has a capacity of 2.25 million gallons per day. Source: North Cameron Regional Water Supply Corporation

Groundwater Desalination Facilities. Source: Mickley & Associates, written commun., 2013. Survey of municipal desalination plants.

Total Saline Groundwater Use, 2010

Unlined brine pit on the shore of Skiatook Lake, Okla.
(Source: USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program)

Salt impacted field.
(Source: Colorado State University Extension, Fact Sheet No. 0.521)

Development of geothermal saline groundwater into a warm-spring spa.
(Source: State of Florida Department of Natural Resources. Special Publication No. 21, 1977)

Seawater Intrusion Figure. (Source: USGS Circular 1262)

Brackish groundwater movement figure. (Source: USGS Circular 1262)

Map of United States in Late Cretaceous Time (66 to 100 million years ago).(Source: USGS Bulletin 1291)

Map of United States in Middle Pennsylvanian Time (about 300 million years ago). (Source: USGS Bulletin 1291)

Salt Deposits (Gypsum). (Source: Siim Sepp, http://www.sandatlas.org/)

Groundwater in basin-fill aquifers of the Southwest often increases in dissolved-solids content as it travels along its flow path as a result of geochemical interactions with the aquifer matrix and through evaporative processes. At the end of its flowpath, groundwater may be brackish or saline and discharges to the surface through springs such this one in Death Valley

Artesian Well, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Key Largo, FL

Water census focal area studies button

Water Census Streamflow button

USGS gage 01428000 Tenmile River at Tusten, NY

USGS gage 01419500 Willowemoc Creek near Livingston Manor, NY

The beach-dependent shorebirds project at the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center models current and future habitat availability for nesting shorebirds in an effort to map current and likely future habitat availability on a range of sites along the U.S. Atlantic coast. Sites include beaches with minimal human-presence, such Cedar Island shown here off of the

This map shows estimated concentrations of atrazine in shallow groundwater beneath agricultural land. Atrazine use is one of the most important factors used to predict atrazine and deethylatrazine concentrations in groundwater (right). Within areas of high atrazine use, groundwater residence time, soil permeability, and other factors explain some of the differences in

Bull Trout in the Flathead River (cropped)

Artesian Well (cropped), John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, Key Largo, FL

Three-dimensional model of Chimney Bluffs, New York along Lake Ontario created from low-altitude digital images collected from an unmanned aerial system (UAS).

3D Image of a multi-channel seismic (MCS) line showing gas (blue/green) migrating up through fractures in the subsurface, culminating in a 600 meter tall plume of methane gas in the water column that was captured using a Simrad EK60 split beam echo sounder.  Background bathymetry was downloaded from USGS Open-File Report 2012-1266 (

SEABed Observation and Sampling System (SEABOSS) (center image) and the MiniSEABOSS (right) designed for rapid, inexpensive, and effective collection of seabed imagery (photographs and video) as well sediment samples from the coastal/inner-continental shelf regions.  Images from coastal Massachusetts show purple algae-encrusted cobbles and boulders covered with sea-stars (

Image showing a collage of examples of multi-channel and single-channel seismic data collected by the USGS, seismic equipment deployed from a research vessel, and seismic equipment on a research vessel.  These data are critical to the CMG Program as they define the geology in marine and coastal environments.

USGS wildlife biologists holding a juvenile salt marsh harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys raviventris). The species is listed as "endangered" under the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Top row, left to right: Cordell Johnson (left) and Evan Dailey use the USGS R/V Fast Eddy to collect water samples. Cordell Johnson (left) and Jessie Lacy prepare to deploy a tripod holding instruments to measure water level, currents, and suspended sediment. USGS divers Jenny McKee (left) and Tim Elfers assemble the gear they will need to measure vegetation

Front cover for the publication titled "Geochemistry and microbiology of groundwater and solids from extraction and monitoring wells and their relation to well efficiency at a Federally operated confined disposal facility, East Chicago, Indiana"

NHD Twitter banner photo of lake surrounded by mountains