Images

Boat thrown onto fish pond in Maloata, American Samoa following the tsunami that hit the island on Sept. 29, 2009.

Tsunami flow depth at Alofau, American Samoa following the tsunami that hit the island on Sept. 29, 2009.

Cars damaged by the tsunami in Fagasa, American Samoa. The tsunami hit the island on Sept. 29, 2009.

Only the foundation of a house in Fagasa, American Samoa remains after the tsunami hit on Sept. 29, 2009.

USGS oceanographer Bruce Jaffe standing next to a boat thrown ashore in Pago Pago, American Samoa by the tsunami that hit the island on Sept. 29, 2009.

Marie Chan Kau, a staff member at American Samoa Community College and a member of the International Tsunami Survey Team, points to the maximum water level reached by the tsunami that struck American Samoa on Sept. 29, 2009. This spot, found in Fagasa, American Samoa, is about about 10 meters above sea level.

Roof moved into the ocean in Fagasa, American Samoa following the tsunami that hit the island on Sept. 29, 2009.

Sediment inundated a building in Pago Pago, American Samoa as a result of a Tsunami that struck the coast on Sept. 29, 2009.

The water from the tsunami that hit American Samoa on September 29, 2009 was strong enough to destroy homes and move large objects, such as the boulder pictured here.

The Native communities’ in-ground food storage facilities are being lost as a result of eroding bluffs and thawing permafrost.

Fire Island, NY sand dunes with protective sand fencing

Though this image was taken prior to the peak of the Nor'Ida storm event, elevated water levels have already eroded the oceanside of a primary dune.

Shorebirds on the shoreline on a Fire Island, NY beach

Fire Island, New York shoreline

Ocean side homes on Fire Island, New York

Protected Species Observer aboard CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent

Seismic Lab aboard CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent

U.S. and Canadian two icebreaker collaboration in the Arctic Ocean. Flags flying from CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent.

USGS divers Steve Rubin and Reg Reisenbichler laying out a survey transect in the Elwha River in northern Washington.

This photograph shows three caribou escape the mosquitos on the mudflats of Kasegaluk Lagoon on the Chukchi Sea coast of Alaska. Coastal erosion along the Arctic coast is chronic, widespread and potentially accelerating, posing threats to infrastructure important for defense and energy purposes, natural shoreline habitats and nearby Native communities.

This photograph shows birds taking flight near Icy Cape on the Chukchi Sea coast of Alaska, an area that provides habitat for a variety of avian species.