Multimedia Gallery

Rigorously Valuing the Role of American Samoa’s Coral Reefs in Coastal Hazard Risk Reduction

Estimated Annual Benefits

Maps of American Samoa showing the distribution of the value of averted direct building damages, indirect economic activity losses, and population annually protected from flooding by coral reefs. Results at 10 m² resolution are

Water formed a tiny pond at the bottom of Halema‘uma‘u crater, at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano, in late July 2019. The pond has slowly deepened since then. HVO scientists measure water level almost daily using a small laser rangefinder mounted on a tripod. The measurements are made dependent on weather, wind, and staff availability. The rangefinder calculates the vertical

Ohia seedling.

ʻŌhiʻa seedlings in dibble tubes, prior to planting.

The recently published "Geologic map of the central-southeast flank of Mauna Loa" (https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/sim2932B), shown here, uses color to depict ages of geologic units, with warm colors denoting younger units and cool colors indicating older units. It is the second in a series of maps that

About 1300 earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 1 and at depths over 20 km (12 mi) on and around the Island of Hawai‘i since August 2019 are depicted on this map. Most of the earthquakes were clustered beneath the southern edge of the island near the town of Pāhala. Blue and purple dots indicate earthquakes at 20-40 km (12-25 mi) and more than 40 km (25 mi) depths

Aerial photo of ʻōhiʻa forest on Hawaii Island, including dieback resulting from Rapid Ohia Death.

Synchrotron X-Ray microtomography 3D image (a) and cathodoluminescence slice (b) from the same reentrant-bearing quartz crystal from the Lava Creek Tuff. The reentrants are in darker blue in (a) and the black cavities in (b). Note their relationship to quartz growth bands. Red domains are small magnetite crystals. The plane of the cathodoluminescence slice is shown by the

Contrasting photos of Heart Spring on Geyser Hill in the Upper Geyser Basin from 1998 (left) and 2019 (right). Can you spot differences in the hot spring? Photos courtesy of the National Park Service.

Color-coded map showing the range of helium isotope values across Yellowstone National Park. BC = Boundary Creek, GGB = Gibbon Geyser Basin, MHS = Mammoth Hot Springs.

Map showing three types of young faults in Yellowstone National Park. 1) Resurgent dome faults. 2) Volcanism and caldera faults. 3) Basin and Range faults. Courtesy of the Wyoming State Geological Survey.

Map panels showing the distribution of major caldera-forming ash-flow deposits from the three major caldera-forming eruptions on the Yellowstone Plateau Volcanic Field. Updated from Christiansen, 2001 (USGS PP 729-G) with new age information.

Color-shaded topographic relief map of the Yellowstone Plateau-Snake River Plain volcanic province showing the track of the Yellowstone hot spot. 

Maps displaying the stages of evolution of the more recent cycle of volcanism associated with Yellowstone Caldera. From Finn and Morgan, 2002 (High-resolution aeromagnetic mapping of volcanic terrain, Yellowstone National Park).

Models of magma storage. Part (A) depicts the standard model of magma storage—a single, large body of crystal-poor melt, surrounded by crystalline mush. Although this is the standard 'mush' model, geophysical studies fail to find evidence of this type of magma storage at many active systems. The diagram in (B) shows the updated model for magma storage in large volcanic

Collage of captioned images of storm damage over a background of dark waves (dark waves image credit, Pixabay). Collage shows (clockwise from upper left): A, Storm Surge at Key West, Florida, during Hurricane Dennis (Pixabay); B, Flooded roadways can be seen as the Coast Guard conducts initial Hurricane Katrina damage assessment overflights (USCG); C, Total devastation

Coastal and Marine scientists collect data in the field. 

Q-Boat 1800RP for swift flow.

Photograph of OceanScience, Inc. rough water trimaran boat for the StreamPro.

Photograph of OceanScience, Inc. rough water trimaran boat for the StreamPro.

OceanScience, Inc. designed alternative boat.

Photograph of the StreamPro being deployed in the included tethered boat on a temporary tagline.

Photograph of custom boogie board for ADCP deploymet, view of bottom.

Photograph of custom boogie board for ADCP deploymet, view of bottom.

Photograph of custom boogie board for ADCP deploymet, view of bottom.

Planview photograph of the OceanScience Riverboat.

Planview photograph of the OceanScience Riverboat.

Sontek M9 bridge deployment during flooding event

Speed Rail Mount with adjustable Pitch Roll

Sontek 2

Sontek 1

Tethered boat deployed from a temporary cableway using pulleys and rope.

Photograph of tethered boat being deployed from a manned cableway.

Photograph of tethered boat deployed downstream from a bridge.

Tethered Boat Mount

Examples of tethered acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) boats used for making discharge measurements.

(Left photograph by Jeff Woodward, Environment Canada and right photograph by Geoffrey D. Cartano, U.S. Geological Survey.)

2-speed sailing winch used by the Illinois Field Office to make low-flow measurements on a tagline. 

Missouri boat and mount.

Missouri boat and mount.

Old custom made Kentucky-style mount on several different boats from Kentucky and Illinois deploying both Broadband (BB) and Rio Grande ADCPs. A pole can be fixed to the mount for deploying a GPS antenna located on top of the ADCP. The Kentucky-style mount constructed of Speed Rail is recommended for Rio Grande Workhorse, RiverPro, RioPro, and Sontek M9.

Old custom made Kentucky-style mount on several different boats from Kentucky and Illinois deploying both Broadband (BB) and Rio Grande ADCPs. A pole can be fixed to the mount for deploying a GPS antenna located on top of the ADCP. The Kentucky-style mount constructed of Speed Rail is recommended for Rio Grande Workhorse, RiverPro, RioPro, and Sontek M9.

Old custom made Kentucky-style mount on several different boats from Kentucky and Illinois deploying both Broadband (BB) and Rio Grande ADCPs. A pole can be fixed to the mount for deploying a GPS antenna located on top of the ADCP. The Kentucky-style mount constructed of Speed Rail is recommended for Rio Grande Workhorse, RiverPro, RioPro, and Sontek M9.

ADCP mounting bracket developed in Ithaca, NY. 

ADCP mounting bracket developed in Ithaca, NY. 

Kentucky mount constructed from Speed Rail. This mount can be used to deploy Rio Grande, RiverPro, RioPro, and RiverSurveyor ADCPs.

Diagram depicting stationing in midsection measurement where velocity measurements are acquired. Each station width is multiplied by the station depth and measured velocity to compute the discharge in each section. Section discharges are tabulated to compute a total discharge for the cross section.

6" PVC pipe is weighted to allow an ADVM/ADCP to be deployed in a vertical or "uplooker" configuration.

Illustration of a typical remotely recoverable sub-surface deployment.