Images

The R/V Sallenger tows the structure-from-motion quantitative underwater imaging device with 5 cameras (SQUID-5) across the water over Looe Key Reef in the Florida Keys.

Scientists from the CREST project plan field work from the back of a boat in the Florida Keys.

Studying Seafloor Erosion in the Florida Keys

The challenge:

Cover image for video featuring Curt Storlazzi, USGS titled, "Coral Reefs as National, Natural Infrastructure"

Coverage area for the topo-bathy profiles and their morphologic characteristics across the Atlantic and Gulf coastlines.

Hurricane tracks for Hugo (1989), Georges (1998), Irma (2017) and Maria (2017). Data provided by NOAA. Base image is intellectual property of Esri and is used herein under license. Copyright Esri and its creator. 

USGS scientific diver BJ Reynolds next to a submarine groundwater well on the seafloor. Tubing was hooked up the well to pump groundwater to the surface to ensure the wells are working properly and producing groundwater.

Dr. Christopher G. Smith pumps water from a submarine groundwater well on the seafloor through tubing to the R/V Halimeda and uses an instrument called a YSI to measure salinity and ensure the wells are working properly and producing groundwater.

Dr. Christopher G. Smith pumps water from a submarine groundwater well on the seafloor through tubing to the R/V Halimeda and uses an instrument called a YSI to measure salinity and ensure the wells are working properly and producing groundwater.

Dr. Christopher G. Smith pumps water from a submarine groundwater well on the seafloor through tubing to the R/V Halimeda and uses an instrument called a YSI to measure salinity and ensure the wells are working properly and producing groundwater.

Image showing NOAA research vessel with logos of NOAA, BOEM, USGS and MBARI. EXPRESS is a multi-year, multi-institution cooperative research campaign in deep sea areas of California, Oregon, and Washington, including the continental shelf and slope.

Illustration of NOAA research vessel conducting multibeam sonar survey of seafloor, courtesy of EXPRESS, or Expanding Pacific Research and Exploration of Submerged Systems.

Restored staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) at Looe Key reef in the lower Florida Keys outplanted by Mote Marine Laboratory's coral restoration program.

The Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Sea Floor Mapping Group is mapping the seafloor and subseafloor of Nantucket Sound as part of a long-term collaboration with the State of Massachusetts. This is an image of Nantucket Sound's seafloor. It is dominated by sand waves.

Our coasts, the most familiar part of the ocean are the gateway to the larger deeper ocean world. USGS studies processes and hazards in the coastal zone and how they affect people, wildlife, and ecosystems.

The Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Sea Floor Mapping Group is mapping the seafloor and subseafloor of Nantucket Sound as part of a long-term collaboration with the State of Massachusetts. This is an image of a seismic reflection profile showing layers of sediment deposited during a glacial period.

Amy Gartman, USGS Research Oceanographer and chief scientist for the Escanaba Trough expedition, examines a mineral sample with a hand lens aboard R/V Thomas G. Thompson.

Tom Lorensen, USGS Physical Scientist, uses an ultraviolet light to examine mineral samples aboard R/V Thomas G. Thompson.

The Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center Sea Floor Mapping Group is mapping the seafloor and subseafloor of Nantucket Sound as part of a long-term collaboration with the State of Massachusetts. While a crew is at sea collecting new data, geographer Brian Andrews is processing yesterday's seafloor mapping data.

Close-up of fine-grained pyrrhotite-rich massive sulfide. The deep-sea sample was collected from the Escanaba Trough, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

Iron-oxyhydroxide gossan, formed by weathering of massive sulfide. Dominantly porous orange goethite, with a compact darker to metallic layer of dense goethite.