Multimedia Gallery
Videos
Watch scientific animations, presentations, video shorts, training, and more related to USGS science and research.
Image of the Week - When Snowfall Takes Sides
In 2019, a December storm dropped around five inches of snow over northeast China near Baicheng. If conditions on the ground are right, a snow pattern can reveal a storm's path with remarkable detail. Landsat 8 captured this image of the area, revealing a distinct division between snow cover and clear ground. This stark divide is rare when trees and mountains are present,
...Discharge Measurement on Millers River Near South Royalston, MA
A USGS Hydrologic Technician is briefly shown calibrating the compass on a remote controlled Qboat. The Qboat is then sent across the Millers River near South Royalston, Massachusetts to collect discharge data. This video shows the Qboat making several passes across the river.
Yellowstone Volcano Observatory Monthly Update: February 3, 2020
Mike Poland, Scientist-in-Charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, gives an overview of activity at Yellowstone during January 2020.
What will you do when Earth’s largest active volcano erupts?
In 2019, the Volcano Alert Level for Mauna Loa was elevated from “NORMAL” to “ADVISORY” due to increased seismicity and deformation at the volcano. This alert level does not mean an eruption is imminent, but it is a fact that Mauna Loa, which has erupted 33 times since 1843 (most recently in 1984), will erupt again. What will you do when it does? USGS Hawaiian Volcano
...Seismicity of the 2018 Kīlauea Volcano eruption
The 2018 Kīlauea eruption produced unprecedented levels of seismicity in the volcano’s instrumented history. The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory documented about 80,000 earthquakes during the three-month-long eruption, starting with the dramatic collapse of the Puʻu ʻŌʻō cone on April 30 and ending with the final Kīlauea summit caldera collapse event on August 5. The
...PubTalk 1/2020 — The Rise of the USGS in Space Exploration
The Rise of the USGS in Space Exploration: How the Astrogeology Science Center is integral to the past, present, and future investigation of the Solar System.
By Justin J. Hagerty, Director of the Astrogeology Science Center
- Every astronaut to set foot on the Moon trained with the USGS in
Kīlauea Lower East Rift Zone 2019: Quiet but insightful
In the year since Kīlauea Volcano’s notable 2018 eruption ended, the lower East Rift Zone has been relatively quiet. But USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists continue to gain insight into the eruption through ongoing research and monitoring. Some of the many questions asked by island residents include, Why did the fissures erupt along a linear pattern? How long
...Mapping the Ground Failure
My name is Kate Allstadt. I’m a research geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado, and I'm here in Puerto Rico in the city of Ponce with some colleagues and we're here to map the ground failure that occurred due to this earthquake so we're mapping things like Rock Falls and landslides and liquefaction, as well as lateral spreading which is what we
...What can lava tell us? Deciphering Kīlauea’s 2018 eruption
The 2018 eruption on Kīlauea’s lower East Rift Zone spewed around a billion cubic yards of lava into Puna. From the moment the eruption began, samples of lava were collected and rapidly analyzed by a team of USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo scientists. Geologists Cheryl Gansecki (UH-Hilo) and Lopaka Lee (USGS-HVO) discuss how their work
...What’s happening at Kīlauea Volcano’s summit?
Kīlauea Volcano's summit has been in an eruptive pause since the 2018 events ended over a year ago. Nevertheless, it remains a dynamic place. Ongoing inflation and seismicity indicate that the summit magma chamber is gradually recharging. A water lake, unprecedented in the written historical record, appeared at the bottom of Halema‘uma‘u in late July 2019 and has steadily
...Puerto Rico 2020 — Temporary Seismic Stations
Dr. Elizabeth Vanacore talks about the installation of temporary seismic stations in southwest Puerto Rico.
Image of the Week - An Aleutian Eruption, Day & Night
The Shishaldin Volcano on the eastern edge of Alaska's Aleutian Island chain erupted with activity in January of 2020. The eruption on the island of Unimak sent an ash cloud nearly 5 miles into the sky on January 7th, sparking ash alerts for aviators, mariners, and residents of nearby communities. Landsat 8 captured both day and night imagery of the event as it happened.
...Living with Earthquakes in Hawaii
Tens of thousands of earthquakes occur each year in Hawaii, making it one of the most seismically active places in the United States. Brian Shiro, USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory seismologist, talks about the different types of earthquakes in Hawaii and how they are monitored to help forecast volcanic eruptions and recounts the dramatic seismicity that happened during
...Image of the Week - Antarctica's Summer Solstice
It's winter in the northern hemisphere, but in Antarctica, summer has just begun. At Zucchelli Station the summer solstice occurred on December 22nd, 2019 at 5:19pm local time. The high temperature that day was a balmy 34 degrees Fahrenheit. These images from Landsat 8 show the distinct difference in sun angles cause by the change in seasons. The September image is from
...Transitions: What's next for HVO and the volcanoes it monitors?
2018 and 2019 were years of profound change at Kīlauea Volcano and the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. Devastation caused by the largest lower East Rift Zone eruption and summit collapse in at least 200 years resulted in many transitions for island residents, including HVO. Tina Neal, Scientist-in-Charge of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, describes the current status
...Navigating the New LP DAAC Website: Searching for Data
The LP DAAC recently released a new website designed to help you find the right data for your project. This video walks through 3 search options. https://lpdaac.usgs.gov
Yellowstone Volcano Observatory Monthly Update: January 2, 2020
Mike Poland, Scientist-in-Charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, gives an overview of activity at Yellowstone during 2019, with an emphasis on the month of December.
Image of the Week - Festive Fields in North Carolina
The smell of a fresh cut Christmas tree can evoke visions of majestic evergreen forests teeming with winter wildlife. In truth, more than half of U.S. Christmas trees come from farms in Oregon, North Carolina, or Michigan. Cut Christmas Trees area commodity, tracked by the U.S. Department of Agriculture just like corn or soybeans. These USDA aerial images show tree harvest
...Lesson 10c3: Clipping LAS Data and Creating Derivative Products in Glo
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to load multiple LAS files, define and use a polygon area of interest to subset LAS files, and generate and export raster surfaces and contours derived from the LiDAR point cloud. If necessary, please review Lesson 10c1 for guidance with importing LAS files, filtering, and visualizing LiDAR point clouds in Global Mapper.
Image of the Week - Fires Across California
Fires burned across California in late 2019. Fall is the state's most dangerous season for wildfires, propelled by dry and windy conditions. In recent years however, the fall fire season has been starting earlier and ending later. A series of images from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites show the Kincade Fire in northern California. This fire started on
...Landsat Science Products
The USGS has developed Landsat-derived Level 2 and Level 3 science products that reduce the amount of time users spend on data processing and provide research quality, applications-ready information to monitor, assess and project how changes in the Earth's surface may affect communities and ecosystems. The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellites co-
...Coastal Hazard Assessment w/High-Res Data: A Pacific Island Case Study
Low-lying island environments are particularly vulnerable to impacts from coastal hazards, including inundation (coastal flooding), whether the increased water levels are from episodic events (storm surge, wave run-up, king tides) or from chronic conditions (long term sea-level rise). Elevation is the primary geophysical variable that determines exposure to inundation in
...Yellowstone Volcano Observatory Monthly Update: December 2, 2019
Mike Poland, Scientist-in-Charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, describes activity at Yellowstone during the month of November 2019.
Sampling the water in Halema‘uma‘u - Kīlauea Volcano
USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory scientists Frank Younger and Patricia Nadeau talk about sampling the water at the bottom of Halemaʻumaʻu, a crater at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano. The water appeared in July 2019 and has steadily risen since then. On October 26, 2019, an unoccupied aerial system (UAS) was used to collect a sample of the water to investigate its source
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