Videos

Kilauea's summit lava lake in Halema'uma'u Crater has been at a high level over the past several days, with the lake surface just 8 meters (26 feet) below the floor of Halema'uma'u this evening. The high level has provided clear views of spatter from the public overlook at Jaggar Museum.

Watch as the USGS Hammond Bay Biological Station water tank and pump house are constructed from the ground up! This short video features time lapse photography of the 1-million gallon water tank and pump house constructed to supply water to a state-of-the-art aquatic science laboratory.

Brachycentrus spp., a caddisfly, filter food particles from the water while housed within their protective cases, built themselves from twigs, leaf fragments, and sand. Brachycentrus are famed by fly-fisherman for a Mother's Day hatch to kick off the spring fishing season.
 

This short video is one of a series of four total shorts highlighting USGS water science in California's Delta region. The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is the hub of the state's water system. Water quality touches on all aspects of life. Teams of U.S.

This short video is one of a series of four total shorts highlighting USGS water science in California's Delta region. Earthquakes, land subsidence and flooding pose significant threats to California’s fresh water. Aqueducts, pipes and sewer lines can break and levees can breach.

This short video is one of a series of four total shorts highlighting USGS water science in California's Delta region. California is experiencing a drought, surface water, rainfall, groundwater and snowpack have been at historic lows. This shortage is impacting water users and natural systems across the state.

This short video is intended to serve as an introduction to the Sacramento and San Joaquin Delta, and is the first in a series of four short videos highlighting USGS science in the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary.

This video focuses on the Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center’s (LP DAAC) Data Pool and DAAC2Disk. The Data Pool provides direct access to the publicly available data products from the LP DAAC archive. DAAC2Disk enables users to download multiple data products from the Data Pool using a web-based interface, as a script executed from the command line.

From development and land cover differences to elevation, many factors influence land surface temperature (LST) dynamics.

This was a Facebook Live video conducted with James Fountain of the USGS discussing the Louisiana flooding in August 2016 and the personal experience James had with this event.

This ridiculously cute video of baby Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) shows their first day outside the egg (about 20 hours old). Scientists at Patuxent Wildlife Research Center are training ducks to respond to sounds — just like a hearing test given to kids during elementary school — to learn more about their ability to hear underwater.

Permanent Site: E2 East Transect; Depth: 14.3 Meters (46.8 Feet); Distance from river mouth: 0.9 Kilometers (0.5 Miles) east; Pre/Post Dam Removal: 5 years post-dam removal; Lat/Long: 48.15653002,-123.56130401; Site Description: This is one of our deeper sites. Substrate is mainly gravel/cobble with an occasional boulder. A few brown acid kelps (Desmarestia spp.

Permanent Site: E2 West Transect; Depth: 14.6 Meters (47.8 Feet); Distance from river mouth: 0.9 Kilometers (0.5 Miles) east; Pre/Post Dam Removal: 5 years post-dam removal; Lat/Long: 48.15653002, -123.56197605; Site Description: This is one of our deeper sites. Substrate is mainly gravel/cobble with scattered boulders.

Cell phone video of USGS biologist Diego Johnson releasing a golden eagle that had just been fitted with a tracking device.  The work is informing land managers on eagle movements in the southwest, an area of expanding renewable energy development.

This video clip, filmed on August 12, 2016, shows a typical pāhoehoe breakout on Kīlauea Volcano's "61g" lava flow (actual speed).

Putting Drones to Work for Scientific Research
By: Jeff Sloan, Geographer, Project Leader — USGS National Unmanned Systems Project Office

Tarantula hawk wasps sting and paralyze tarantulas to feed their young. USGS Ecologist Todd Esque captured this video of a tarantula hawk wasp dragging a tarantula through the desert in Mexico. 

Permanent Site: D2 West Transect; Depth: 12.8 Meters (41.9 Feet); Distance from river mouth: 0.3 Kilometers (0.2 Miles); Pre/Post Dam Removal: 5 years post-dam removal Lat/Long: 48.15233001,-123.56896603; Site Description: This site is right off the mouth of the river. Substrate is mainly gravel with some cobble.

Permanent Site: J1 West Transect; Depth: 9.8 Meters (32.3 Feet); Distance from river mouth: 6.6 Kilometers (4.1 Miles) east; Pre/Post Dam Removal: 5 years post-dam removal; Lat/Long: 48.13607725,-123.48002186; Site Description: This site is medium depth. Substrate is mainly a gravel/sand mixture.

Golden eagles can be killed by colliding with a number of human-made objects, including wind turbines. USGS research wildlife biologist Todd Katzner describes his studies of golden eagle flight. This research is being done to model flight behavior which might help managers understand how placement of wind turbines might pose significant risks to golden eagles.

Permanent Control Site: GP1 East Transect; Depth: 7.5 m (24.7 feet); Distance from river mouth: 19.0 Kilometers (11.8 Miles) east; Pre/Post Dam Removal: 5 years post-dam removal; Lat/Long:; Site Description: This site was established as the eastern control. Depth is medium-shallow.