Images

Tsunami flow depth indicator at Fagasa, American Samoa following the tsunami that hit the island on Sept. 29, 2009. Vegetation is brown where it was submerged by the tsunami and green above.

Car thrown into building in Pago Pago, American Samoa during the tsunami that struck the island on Sept. 29, 2009.

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

Tsunami sand deposit at Alao, American Samoa following the tsunami on Sept. 29, 2009. Light colored sand deposited during the tsunami overlies darker soil that was there before the tsunami.

Cars damaged by the tsunami in Fagasa, American Samoa. The tsunami hit the island 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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Fire Island, NY sand dunes with protective sand fencing

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.