Multimedia Gallery

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,

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.
 

Mike Poland, Scientist-in-Charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, gives an overview of activity at Yellowstone during January 2020.

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

National Hydrography Advisory Call:

This episode features speaker David Blodgett (USGS Water Mission Area). Dave discusses the status of his work toward developing a data model for hydrographic features or hydrologic features published through the Open Geospatial Consortium, and then various other kind of national modeling efforts that he has been

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

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

This thermal video of the fissure 8 cone shows that small areas of higher temperatures (greater than 100 degrees Celsius, or 212 degrees Fahrenheit) are present on the cone. Those hotter areas likely represent residual heat in the cone and the underlying fissure. USGS video by M. Patrick.

This video clip shows a flyover of fissure 8 on Jan. 21. During the 2018 eruption, lava spilled out from the cone into a channel that extended towards the north. Lava traveled approximately 13 km (8 miles) to reach the ocean at Kapoho Bay. USGS video by M. Patrick.

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

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

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

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

Dr. Elizabeth Vanacore talks about the installation of temporary seismic stations in southwest Puerto Rico.

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.

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

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

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

The degradation of coastal habitats, particularly coral reefs, raises risks by increasing the exposure of coastal communities to flooding hazards during storms. The protective services of these natural defenses are not assessed in the same rigorous economic terms as artificial defenses, such as seawalls, and therefore often are not considered in decision-making. Here we

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

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.

This timelapse sequence shows two hours of activity at the water pond in Halema‘uma‘u, at Kīlauea's summit. Flow is evident along the sharp orange color boundary in the center of the pond, as well as along portions of the shoreline. The pond is 189 m (650 ft) long. The vido was taken on the eastern rim.

An overflight on December 18 provided aerial photographs of Kīlauea caldera, which were used to construct a 3D model. The water pond is visible in the deepest portion of Halema‘uma‘u crater. For scale, the water pond is 189 m (650 ft) long and approximately 600 m (1970 ft) below the western caldera rim.