Images

A bursting bubble on the surface of a lava lake produces an impulsive signal on an infrasound recording. This photo shows a group of bubbles about 5 m (16 ft) across bursting on the Halema‘uma‘u lava lake at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano. The blue line is an infrasound recording of 50 seconds of similar activity.

Confined swine feeding operation; taken by Kent Becker, unknown location.

Calcification monitoring station with a colony of the massive starlet coral, Siderastrea siderea, fastened in place.

Map of historic seismicity, major faults, and paleoseismic summary of San Andreas Fault system.

This image shows the perimeter of Chaney Glacier in Glacier National Park in 1966, 1998, 2005, and 2015.

Changes in snow conditions at a gravity station in Yellowstone National Park in 2017. Each photo is taken from about the same location in May, July, August, and October of that year. The red circle in the May photograph shows the location of the gravity station in this area, which is near Craig Pass, a few miles southeast of Old Faithful.

This microscopic image shows a sun-shaped area within turtle skin cells where chelonid herpesvirus 5 replicates. The virus capsids, or protein shells, are arrayed like a corona around the circle. ChHV5 is associated with fibropapillomatosisa tumor disease affecting endangered green turtles.

Seafloor methane seep with chemosynthetic mussels at ~1000 m (~3300 ft) water depth offshore Virginia. Image taken by the Global Explorer ROV during a USGS-led cruise sponsored by the NOAA Office of Exploration and Research in 2017.  Green dots are 10 cm apart.

Microbial Biogeochemistry Laboratory — Menlo Park, California. USGS scientist collecting samples of aquatic species from the Pike River, Wis., for later analysis of mercury contamination.

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Using the computer-driven triaxial micro-milling machine to subsample a coral slab. 

Coral reefs are prone to phase shifts where they quickly transition from coral-dominated to a uniformity of other organisms, typically algae. The Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Central Pacific is a unique case where a transition from corals to corallimorphs occurred.

Coral reefs are prone to phase shifts where they quickly transition from coral-dominated to a uniformity of other organisms, typically algae. The Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Central Pacific is a unique case where a transition from corals to corallimorphs occurred.

Coral reefs are prone to phase shifts where they quickly transition from coral-dominated to a uniformity of other organisms, typically algae. The Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Central Pacific is a unique case where a transition from corals to corallimorphs occurred.

The arrows in this image point to mouths of individual corallimorphs, which are a type of invasive anemone that typically thrives in coral reefs that have been degraded by environmental or man-made disturbances. Each corallimorph mouth is surrounded by a corona of tentacles.

Example of CoSMoS projection displayed in the Our Coast, Our Future (OCOF) online tool.

Example of CoSMoS projected flooding extents for a 1.5 meter sea level rise in combination with possible 100 year return period coastal storms.

We use a Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP-OES) to determine the Sr/Ca in coral aragonite samples in the laboratory at the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center.

Looking downstream along the cowpasture river.

Cowpasture river monitoring at Route 627 near Williamsville, VA