Images

Liam Schenk (USGS Oregon) holding a sediment core collected from the bottom of Iron Gate Reservoir, Klamath River, CA.

Researcher evaluates vegetation during a GLORIA alpine plant survey near the summit of Dancing Lady Mountain in Glacier National Park, Montana.

Scientists collect alpine plant species and distribution data to complete a GLORIA site inventory on the summit of Seward Mountain, Glacier National Park, Montana.

Aerial map of modeling area in the Nisqually River Delta. Managed freshwater marsh at the southern end of the refuge is excluded. Inset: Black point on terrain map shows the location of Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge within Washington State (grey outline).

A view looking north on Cocoa beach towards Kennedy Space Station. Coastal infrastructure and natural resources such as sediment and beach vegetation can all be affected by coastal change processes.

An active oil and gas well pad and an abandoned pad being reclaimed (top left inset).

Density of oil and gas well pads per km² in the Colorado Plateau ecoregion (including parts of Utah, Colorado and New Mexico) as counted in 2016. Oil/gas wells are particularly concentrated in this region with ~100,000 abandoned and current wells spanning 60 years of activity. These numbers are dramatically increasing with time.

Engergy pads in an arid enverionment

In cooperation with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency

The tidal forests of the Nisqually River Delta become inundated to just below the trunk during the highest tides of the year.

Water Temperature site 12354700 Clark Fork near Paradise Mt during high flow.

Strong storms such as hurricanes can cause drastic changes to coastal environments. For example, this large washover fan was created on Fire Island, New York in 2012 after Hurricane Sandy by waves moving sediment from the dunes and beach towards the back-barrier environment. 

Safety is a top priority. USGS staff recently improved access to field sites at the Herring River estuary within the Cape Cod National Seashore to provide safer paths through a phragmites wetland.

Merrimack River near Aiken St Bridge, Lowell, Massachusetts (USGS ID: 010965985).

The site is one of the Merrimack project water quality sampling and monitoring stations.

Colored shaded-relief bathymetry including submarine channels and pockmarks offshore Morro Bay, California. Map generated from AUV-based multibeam bathymetry data collected by MBARI both prior to and as a part of EXPRESS.

Colored shaded-relief bathymetry including pockmarks offshore Morro Bay, California. Map generated from AUV-based multibeam bathymetry data collected by MBARI.

Colored, shaded-relief bathymetry offshore central California. Data supported management of National Marine Sanctuaries and prospective renewable energy decisions. Black ovals are locations of AUV-based multibeam surveys. Close-up views of two AUV surveys are shown in Figures 4 and 5.

Simplified Geologic Map of Yellowstone, modified from USGS I-711 by Marli Miller, University of Oregon. All rock material resulting from the major caldera-forming eruptions are labelled at Qt, where the dashed caldera boundary highlights the scale of these events. Older volcanic, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks are found outside of this boundary.

Colored, shaded-relief bathymetry of Trinidad Submarine Canyon northwest of Humboldt Bay in northern California. Area is in the vicinity of a potential offshore renewable energy development. See larger map for location.

Tina Neal, HVO Scientist-in-Charge from 2015–2020 ends her tenure on June 19, 2020. USGS photo.

James Molden shows off an Orange-throated Whiptail (Aspidoscelis hyperythra) while conducting the monthly pitfall trap monitoring at Cabrillo National Monument. The traps were put in place over 20 years ago by researcher Robert Fisher. USGS is looking at the effects of fragmentation on the isolated amphibian and reptile community at the monument.