Images

USGS scientist Tabitha Graves collects western bumble bee samples in eastern Montana. 

The water lake within Halema‘uma‘u crater, at the summit of Kīlauea, continues to slowly rise, with no significant changes in recent weeks. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

The eastern end of the lake, shown here, is slightly warmer than the lake center, and commonly has steam rising from the water surface. USGS photo by M. Patrick.

A conceptual model of ecosystem services for the wetland habitats of Nisqually River Delta. Exogenous factors influence the quality and quantity of wetland habitat. This, in turn, controls the many functions that occur within wetlands. Ecosystem services, or benefits to people, are derived from the ability of wetlands to perform critical ecological functions.

A botanist collects vegetation data near the summit Pitamakin Mountain in Glacier National Park, Montana.

Alpine summits often support a great variety of vegetation species despite harsh environmental conditions. Bison Mountain GLORIA plot, Glacier National Park, Montana.

Hydrologists Jonathan Cohl and Bradley Bjorklund take field comparison readings while preparing for sampling at two depths of the Spruce Run Reservoir to collect discrete water quality samples.

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.