Images

USGS scientists from the Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center (PCMSC) in Santa Cruz, California deploy an instrument called the poking eyeball. The system, developed by PCMSC, was designed to take repetitive microscopic images of the seabed from a tripod on the seafloor.

Helicopter on the deck of a Canadian coast guard ice breaker ship in the Arctic Ocean.

Flooded coastal streets, houses, and fields after Hurricane Ike passes through Texas

Protected Species Observer aboard CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent

Helicopter view of Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St. Laurent (top) and U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy (bottom) on the Arctic Ocean. This was during a scientific expedition to map the extended continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean.

This is a view from the back of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy as it heads north in the Arctic Ocean.

Helicopter view of Canadian Coast Guard Ship Louis S. St. Laurent (top) and U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy (bottom) on the Arctic Ocean. This was during a scientific expedition to map the extended continental shelf in the Arctic Ocean.

Launching a sonobuoy receiver off the end of CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent

Sunlight and an offshore shower produced this double rainbow off Florida's east coast.

USGS researcher Benjamin Jones examines a collapsed block of ice-rich permafrost on Barter Island along Alaska's Arctic coast.

Photograph of the seafloor off the California coast showing coarse sand, shells, and a sunflower sea star. It was taken during a "ground-truthing" survey off of Salt Point, California, in support of the California Seafloor Mapping Program.

Scanning electron microsope image of the planktic foraminifer Globigerinoides ruber

Underwater photograph of Tumon Bay Marine Reserve, Guam, showing some of the amazing biologic diversity of coral reefs.

Photograph of the coastal region of Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz, California

Shaded relief image of Woods Hole, MA

The USGS, in cooperation with Santa Cruz County and the California Department of Boating and Waterways, studied the seacliffs, ocean floor, and waves of Pleasure Point, California.   We created detailed maps of the seacliffs and ocean floor using LIDAR laser scanners and sonar.

Bathymetry of of the southern Gulf of Maine with the Massachusetts coastal zone boundary outlined in grey.

Shaded relief backscatter image of a shipwreck near Cuttyhunk, MA

 Inner continental shelf sediment textures within western Massachusetts Bay classified using Barnhardt and others (1998). Bottom photographs A-D show sediment texture in select locations (photograph locations are shown as white dots on the sediment texture map).

Oblique hillshaded-relief view of the bathymetry surrounding Martha’s Vineyard and the Upper Cape looking south across Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound

Image showing the bathymetry of the southern Gulf of Maine with the Massachusetts coastal zone boundary outlined in grey. The images on the right display how the geophysical and sample data are combined to create an interpretation of seafloor geology