Images

Cordell Johnson uses a personal watercraft (PWC) equipped with GPS and sonar to measure seafloor depths near the beach.

Dan Nowacki measures dune elevations near the mouth of the Pajaro River with a precision GPS unit carried in his backpack.

Coastal Change Storm Hazard Team map created Tuesday, 10/89/18 showing current forecasted beach erosion, overwash and inundation effects of Hurricane Michael's predicted landfall in the Florida Panhandle. Forecast will change with subsequent National Hurricane Center forecasts.

Between November 2014 and June 2016 the U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center (PCMSC) conducted eight repeat, high-resolution bathymetry and acoustic-backscatter surveys of a small patch of seafloor offshore Santa Cruz in northern Monterey Bay, California.

NAGT summer intern, Kelly Sanks, prepares to collect salt marsh sediment cores with her advisor, Dr. Meagan Gonneea (Cape Cod, MA).

Two USGS scientists collect a marsh sediment push core in Grand Bay in October, 2018.

Screenshot of a point cloud containing more than 50 million points from a photogrammetry project of the Quissett Campus.  This point cloud was created from 633 photographs taken from a unmanned aircraft system (UAS) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts in July 2018

Upper Left:  Dann Blackwood operating the SEABOSS winch during a sampling cruise; Lower left: Bill Schwab, Laura Brothers and Emile Bergeron on the deck of a research vessel; Center Left: Tom O'Brien carrying equipment during a research cruise; Center: USGS staff deploying a seismic system from a research vessel; left: Chuck Worley ready to deploy a multibeam e

Parrotfish grazing on coral within an Acropora palmata framework in Buck Island Reef National Monument

Hurricane Florence (2018) modeling: The coupled model captures the stages of compound flooding in the Cape Fear River Estuary starting with swell from offshore, followed by storm surge from the ocean side, later transitioning to flooding from land side with the storm water runoff because of rain.

USGS Research Geologist Dr. Erika Lentz is conducting real-time kinematic GPS surveys on barrier island dunes, part of her research looking at how coastal landscapes respond to sea-level rise.

After USGS scientist Dan Hoover drove a couple of pass with his all-terrain vehicle (ATV), equipped with gear that collects elevations, on a mostly flat beach in southern Monterey Bay, California. Then he turned to take this photo of his tire tracks.

COAWST model prediction on September 13, 2018 at 17:00:00. Arrows are wind speed and direction and colors are wave heights in meters. 

Two personal watercraft operators from the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, California, navigate their personal watercraft (PWC) in the shallow nearshore region in Moss Landing near Elkhorn Slough. The PWCs are set up with precision GPS and echosounder systems in order to create detailed bathymetric maps (depth).

For typical beach surveys, USGS scientists drive an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) like the one shown here, equpped with precision GPS that collects location and elevation data. Driving along features such as high-water marks, and driving a grid pattern spaced by about 30 meters, enable the collection of a complete 3D representation of the beach surface.

USGS oceanographer Andrew Stevens, of the Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, California, sits on an all-terrain vehicle equipped with a precision GPS and other instruments. The GPS collects position data continuously, about 2 points per second, while an operator like Andrew drives the ATV over a beach.

Science and ship crew on board NOAA research vessel Rainier prepare the Chirp 512i off south-central California.

The USGS Coastal Change Hazards Storm Team has forecast coast-wide levels of beach erosion, inundation and overwash due to Hurricane Florence's expected path and landgfall.

The Coastal Change Hazards Storm Team has forecast changing water levels at specific locations over time.

USGS oceanographer Shawn Harrison stands on the coastal bluff of Barter Island, Alaska at sunset. Shawn and his fellow researchers are studying how the highly erosive bluff changes under the varied conditions experienced by this stretch of coastline.

Kīlauea summit photo taken on September 6, 2018.