Videos

Time-lapse photos taken from the northwest side of the Platte River State Park Tower. Photos taken every hour from April 4, 2011 to April 29, 2012.

--building an earthquake early warning system for California

by Doug Given, USGS Earthquake Early Warning Coordinator 

Travis explains how he began his career as a hydrologic technician with the USGS through the USGS Student Career Employment Program.

The lava lake in Halema‘uma‘u has been at a relatively high level over the past week, and several rise-fall cycles (short term increases in lava level immediately followed by spattering and an abrupt drop) pushed the level even higher over the past day.

A small lava pond, set within a collapse pit, has been active in the eastern portion of Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater for the past several weeks. At the east margin of the lava pond, lava sinks back into the system, with frequent spatter bursts sourced from this downwelling spot.

Geologists rely on information from deep beneath the Earth's surface to reconstruct the past. As sediments accumulate over time, they create records geologists use to understand Earth history and to predict future processes and trends. The most common way to get this information is to drill a hole in the Earth where sediments have been deposited over time.

Hydraulic fracturing is the process of injecting wells with water, sand, and chemicals at very high pressure. This process creates fractures in deeply buried rocks to allow for the extraction of oil and natural gas as well as geothermal energy. USGS scientists discuss the opportunities and impact associated with hydraulic fracturing.

Big Ol‘ Gal

--the consequences of increasing atmospheric greenhouse gases

Tom Suchanek, USGS Western Ecological Research Center Lead Scientist and Climate Change Coordinator

In the video, Robert Leeper stands in the field while explaining how he became associated with the USGS, what types of research projects he has worked on , and what his plans are for the future.

Animation of a rotating globe of Jupiter's moon Io, with a geologic map superimposed over a global color mosaic. The 51-second animation begins as a global color mosaic image of the moon, then at 28 seconds, it displays the geologic map overlain on the mosaic.

In this episode, we follow a group of students from the Jane Goodall Environmental Middle School on a class trip to Pintail Marsh at the Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge. There they join USGS ecologist Tara Chestnut to investigate and sample for the amphibian chytrid fungus.

America has questions about climate change, and the USGS has real answers. In this episode of Climate Connections, USGS scientists answer questions gathered from the beautiful Glacier National Park in Montana. Questions include:

Since first discovered in 2007 in New York, white-nose syndrome has spread to 16 states, including Virginia and Maryland, and four Canadian provinces. The disease is estimated to have killed over five million hibernating bats.

US Topo is the next generation of topographic maps from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Arranged in the familiar 7.5-minute quadrangle format, digital US Topo maps are designed to look and feel (and perform) like the traditional paper topographic maps for which the USGS is so well known.

In March 2012, USGS hydrologic technician John Wirt recorded unusually high streamflow at our streamgage on Dixie Creek. This summer, a wildfire burned through the same area, destroying two of streamgages. The USGS is responding to restore its monitoring capability in case of post-fire flooding and debris flow.Note: U.S.

-- the new USGS FloodPath early warning system

By Marijke van Heeswijk, USGS Hydrologist

Kerry Caslow is a hydrologic technician with the Georgia Water Science Center. Listen to her story.

This Quicktime movie begins with a view of lava in Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō made possible by a small collapse pit. The lava is swiftly moving towards the northeast, and this represents lava within Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō crater that is entering the lava tube system which, in turn, feeds the active flow field.

For nearly 40 years, Landsat and other Earth observing satellites have been silently orbiting the globe collecting high quality images that document the condition of our changing planet. Remote sensing images provide an unprecedented long-term, impartial view of the Earth's cities and natural resources. Dr.

--a wonderland of volcanoes and thermal features

By Patrick Muffler, Geologist Emeritus