Images

Left, Cordell Johnson drilling and coring the interior of the bluff to ground-truth geophysical methods. Right, a core section filled mostly with ice.

Time-averaged image, or “timex,” created by averaging the intensity of light recorded at each spot, or “pixel,” during a video taken at Duck, North Carolina, on September 1, 2015. Blurred white zones show where waves are breaking. Light band paralleling the shore marks an offshore sandbar. Dark bands extending away from the beach indicate rip channels.

Divers prepare patterns of known targets for verification of sonar resolution.

Tidally restricted wetland in the Herring River Estuary, Cape Cod, MA

USGS scientists walk through a tern colony on the Monomoy National Wildlife Refuge (MA). Here, these scientists are using ecogeomorphological models to predict how this refuge will be impacted by sea-level rise and how that will ultimately effect shorebirds.

We collect terrestrial (barrier island) and marine (nearshore and estuarine) sediment cores to understand the history of barrier island formation and erosion.

Scientists collect soil cores in coastal wetland by removing a section of peat, the organic-rich material that makes up salt marshes. After the soil is removed, water quickly fills in the void. This water-logged environment underground is devoid of oxygen and is an important reason that salt marsh peat preserves a record of historical changes.

Meagan Eagle, Research Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, collects an elevation point along the edge of Quivett Creek in Brewster, MA. This salt marsh was restored in 2005 by replacing a narrow culvert to allow full tidal flow once again.

Sam Johnson explaining details of the Hosgri fault zone at USGS offices in Santa Cruz.

Geophysicist Sam Johnson explaining details of the San Andreas fault zone at USGS offices in Santa Cruz.

Salt marsh grass grows in the restored marsh at Bass Creek, Yarmouth, MA. 

Two USGS scientists measure elevation at Bass Creek salt marsh, Yarmouth, MA. 

USGS scientists are working to model shorebird habitat availability both today and in the future, given processes like sea-level rise, in an effort to support the efficient management of beaches for both people and nesting shorebirds.

Alaska Department of Fish and Games vessel Solstice carried USGS scientists for three weeks in May 2015 while they mapped 650 square kilometers of seafloor and features beneath the seafloor in fine detail.

 This colored shaded-relief bathymetry map of the Offshore of San Francisco map area in northern California was generated from bathymetry data collected by California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) and by Fugro Pelagos (fig. 1).

Mapping along the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault required several days aboard the Alaska Department of Fish and Game research vessel Solstice. Here, the boat sits in a marina near Cordova, Alaska.

Aerial photograph of Kwajalein Atoll showing its low-lying islands and coral reefs.

Aerial photograph of Kwajalein Atoll showing its low-lying islands and coral reefs.

Underwater image of a wave breaking over a coral reef on Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. This image shows how the high hydrodynamic roughness of live, healthy corals causes friction that induces breaking of waves over coral reefs, reducing wave energy at the shoreline that can cause flooding and island overwash.

Aerial photograph of Kwajalein Atoll showing its low-lying islands and coral reefs.

Aerial photograph of Kwajalein Atoll showing its low-lying islands and coral reefs.