Images

USGS technician Jennifer O’Keefe Suttles stands within a Phragmites stand within the Herring River Estuary, part of the Cape Cod National Seashore. 

 Two UNC mini landers, surrounded by Sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) and pink sea urchins, incubate seawater in situ to enable calculations of methane oxidation rates.

Red plumes burst out from the tops of these chemosynthetic tubeworms, capturing hydrogen sulfide and oxygen from the surrounding water to feed their bacterial endosymbionts. The tubeworm tubes provide a habitat for several benthic animals, including the pale pink branching octocorals seen here

A photo of a National Park Service information plate on “Sharks in Cape Cod Waters”, Cape Cod, MA, taken during a field study reconnaissance mission.  

Map showing rates of shoreline change on the north coast of Alaska. Rates range from -15 meters per year to +11 meters per year.

As one of four panelists at a briefing held by the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and the Coastal States Organization, Dr.

Seagull on Indian Rocks Beach, Florida

Several instruments visible on board the research vessel JOIDES Resolution. Photo taken from the ship bridge roof. USGS logo visible on one of the pieces of equipment. Research cruises taken on the JOIDES Resolution are often interdisciplinary and collaborative across many universities, scientific agencies, and other research institutions.

Glenn Simpson (left), Park Manager of the Dry Tortugas National Park, National Park Service and Ilsa Kuffner (right), USGS Research Marine Biologist, with an elkhorn coral from Pulaski Shoal being weighed and measured.

Joseph Terrano collects field notes in the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Mississippi marsh. 

Joseph Terrano of the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center prepares water level loggers to install near the marsh shoreline in Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Mississippi.

Mounds of sand cleared from the roadway stand high on both sides of a road near the beach in Pensacola Beach, Florida, in October 2004 after Hurricane Ivan.

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) researcher Dave Thompson stands next to a garage in Gulf Shores, Alabama, that filled with sand after Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

This coral garden was discovered in the Stetson-Miami Deepwater HAPC during the 2019 Southeastern U.S. Deep-sea Exploration in an area that may mark the eastern extent of the Million Mounds region.

Established in 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Coral Assessment Network (USGS-CAN) provides data on coral-growth (calcification) rates throughout the Florida Keys. Pictured here is a coral at Crocker Reef in the upper Florida Keys.

Established in 2009, the U.S. Geological Survey’s Coral Assessment Network (USGS-CAN) provides data on coral-growth (calcification) rates throughout the Florida Keys and St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Pictured here is one of 30 stations located in Buck Island Reef National Monument.

This instrument, the Edgetech SB-516 or "chirp", emits acoustic signals that penetrate the sediment on the seafloor. The reflected sound is recorded and is used to create a cross-section image, or profile, of the sub-bottom.

A view of the mouth of the Klamath River where it meets the Pacific Ocean in northern California. The river runs from Oregon to California. Four dams along the Klamath are pending removal. USGS is studying coastal watershed response to dam removal, including long-term before-after/control-impact (BACI) studies.

Sediments in estuarine and marsh environments contain organic peat, or material derived from life, that plays an important role in ecosystem health. Here, USGS geologist Chris Smith of the St.

A science crew on M/V (marine vessel) Bold Horizon retrieve gear from offshore San Francisco.

USGS scientists on the back deck of M/V Bold Horizon in San Francisco Bay: (back row, standing: left to right) Brandon Nasr, Danny Brothers, Travis Alonghi (USGS student contractor), Gerry Hatcher, Jenna Hill, Pete Dal Ferro, and Jenny McKee; (front row, kneeling: left to right) USGS scientists Janet Watt and Nora Nieminski.