Images

Eckerd College students taking water samples from a CTD-rosette on board the R/V Weatherbird

Dr. Legna Torres-García conducts an erosion model activity at the LCC Day School in St. Petersburg, FL, to showcase how hurricane-force winds can cause damage to coastal environments.

Our coasts, the most familiar part of the ocean are the gateway to the larger deeper ocean world. USGS studies processes and hazards in the coastal zone and how they affect people, wildlife, and ecosystems.

An erosion model activity used by the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center to showcase how hurricane-force winds can cause damage to coastal environments.

The SQUID-5, or Structure-from-motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with 5 cameras test in Tampa Bay.

The SQUID-5, or Structure-from-motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with 5 cameras, being deployed by Mitch Lemon (SPCMSC, on the left) and Gerry Hatcher (PCMSC, on the right)  in Tampa Bay for testing.

The SQUID-5, or Structure-from-motion (SfM) Quantitative Underwater Imaging Device with 5 cameras, shown being staged for a test run at the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center. In the background, Andy Farmer (SPCMSC) and Gerry Hatcher (PCMSC) prep the R/V Sallenger, the vessel being used to tow the device. 

The R/V Weatherbird II docked at the Florida Institute of Oceanography at University of South Florida (USF) College of Marine Science in St. Petersburg, Florida. USGS scientists and partners at Eckerd College and USF load the vessel in preparation for a research cruise as part of a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Scientists-at-Sea program.

Screenshot of an idealized animation of tsunamis produced by the 15 January 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcano in the Kingdom of Tonga. View to the north-northeast. The fastest water wave to radiate away from the eruption is being pushed by an atmospheric wave triggered by the explosion.

Idealized animation of tsunamis produced by the 15 January 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‛apai volcano in the Kingdom of Tonga. View to the southeast. 

BJ Reynolds of the St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center operates a personal watercraft near the shoreline of Seven Mile Island, New Jersey. This vessel is used to collect single beam bathymetry (depth and seafloor shape) in the nearshore, and the equipment on the shoreline is used to collect chirp seismic reflection on the shoreface and inner shelf.

The USGS Coastal Change Hazards Portal contains an interactive map of historical shoreline positions and shoreline change rates for Puerto Rico.  

Idealized animation of tsunamis produced by the 15 January 2022 eruption of Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‛apai volcano in the Kingdom of Tonga. View to the north-northeast.

Trayectorias de los huracanes Hugo (1989), Georges (1998), Irma (2017) y María (2017). Datos provistos por la NOAA. La imagen de base es propiedad intelectual de Esri y se usa aquí bajo licencia. Los derechos de autor y reproducción son propiedad de Esri y sus licenciatarios. 

Photograph collage representing different coastlines; permafrost coasts, sandy beaches, rocky beaches, wetlands and marshes, cliff-backed beaches, and estuaries.  

A digital elevation model (DEM) was created from underwater images collected at Eastern Dry Rocks coral reef near Key West, Florida, in May 2021 using the SQUID-5 camera system. The underwater images were processed using Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry techniques into a classified two-class ('unclassified' and 'low noise') 3D point cloud.

Noa Randall and Rachel Allen are installing an optical turbidity sensor on the mudflats in Wellfleet harbor, to pair with the altimeter run by the Center for Coastal Studies.  The Herring River, which drains into Wellfleet Harbor, is slated to have its 100-yo dam removed in the next 6 months, with the potential to dramatically increase the sediment load and sus

Looking over the dunes towards the beach in the Otis Pike Fire Island High Dune Wilderness at Fire Island, New York. 

Scientists collected sand auger cores from Fire Island to help reconstruct the evolution of the barrier over the last several centuries, with the goal of quantifying changes in sediment input and partitioning through time (e.g. how sand is distributed between the terrestrial portion of the barrier and the beach/shoreface).

Scientists collected sand auger cores from Fire Island to help reconstruct the evolution of the barrier over the last several centuries, with the goal of quantifying changes in sediment input and partitioning through time (e.g., how sand is distributed between the terrestrial portion of the barrier and the beach/shoreface).

Student contractor Erin Lyons swims over a coral reef during research surveys.