Images

A large winch on the stern of R/V Pelican is used to retrieve two sediment traps from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico.

Porites and Acropora coral species in reef flat pools in the National Park of American Samoa on Ofu, Manuʻa Islands Group, American Samoa.

PCMSC MarFac field specialists retrieve the GOMEX box corer.

The GOMEX box corer is constructed of stainless steel and is used to sample soft sediments at the bottom of lakes, bays, and the ocean. The GOMEX box coring sampler is so-named because it is popular for sampling work in the Gulf of Mexico.

Dive operations with National Park Service and the National Park of American Samoa installing tide, wave, temperature, and salinity sensors on the fore reef in NPSA off the south shore of Ofu, Manuʻa.

USGS scientists install a thermal imaging system in the National Park of American Samoa off the south shore of Ofu, Manua. The system detects temperature variations, like a colder freshwater plume that emanates from the shore.

USGS researchers Chris Moore and Mitchell Lemon took a trip on the R/V Weatherbird in January of 2020 with the University of South Florida College of Marine Science as part of a study on carbon dioxide in the Gulf of Mexico. Carbon Dioxide, or CO2, is a greenhouse gas that can be absorbed by the ocean.

Pete Dal Ferro and Andrew Stevens, both from the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center (PCMSC) in Santa Cruz, California, install a Vaisala WXT weather station in Grizzly Bay, east of San Pablo Bay and northeast of San Francisco.

A weather station, installed in the middle of Grizzly Bay east of San Pablo Bay (near San Francisco), gets its power from a small solar panel. Data collected from the station is transmitted via a wireless modem. Far in the background is the city of Benicia, and the plume rising into the sky is water vapor emitted from the Benicia oil refinery.

Scientists from the USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in their vessel jewell, docked at Belden's Landing Water Access Facility on Montezuma Slough. They are preparing for a day of sampling on Grizzly Bay, where they study how sediment moves through sensitive coastal environments.

From left to right, USGS scientists Sam McGill, Lucas WinklerPrins, David Hart, Selina Davila Olivera, and Pete Dal Ferro work on Grizzly Bay on the vessel Jewell, to collect sediment samples using the GOMEX box corer.

USGS science crew works to free the muddy sediment from a GOMEX box corer. They are on board the Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center's vessel Jewell on Grizzly Bay in the San Francisco Bay area.

A structure called a dolphin, permanently affixed in the sediment, stands in Grizzly Bay near San Francisco, CA, with a weather station installed on top. The USGS will use the data from the weather station in conjunction with other oceanographic data, in their studies of sediment movement in the bay.

On PCMSC vessel Jewell, a team of USGS scientists sit in Grizzly Bay, a baylet of San Francisco Bay in Solano County, California. USGS collects sediment samples to study how sediment moves through sensitive coastal environments like this.

This image created using the Continuous Bathymetry and Elevation Models of the Massachusetts Coastal Zone and Continental Shelf, shows Salem and Marblehead in the middle of the image and Rocky Neck in the upper middle.

This image created using the Continuous Bathymetry and Elevation Models of the Massachusetts Coastal Zone and Continental Shelf, shows the entrance to the Buzzards Bay entrance to the Cape Cod Canal.

This image created using the Continuous Bathymetry and Elevation Models of the Massachusetts Coastal Zone and Continental Shelf, shows the three-dimensional perspective view of Nantucket Island, MA looking from the Southeast to the Northwest.

This image created using the Continuous Bathymetry and Elevation Models of the Massachusetts Coastal Zone and Continental Shelf, shows the three-dimensional perspective view of the Elizabeth Islands in the center of the image. Buzzards Bay is to the left (north) of the Elizabeth Islands, and Vineyard Sound is to the right (south).

Digital elevation model (DEM) of northern San Francisco Bay, California, created using bathymetry data collected between 1999 and 2016 (MLLW)

This region of the California coastline is lined with coastal bluffs that have been shaped not only by runoff from rain, but also by wave- and wind-driven erosion. This photo from Pescadero State Beach displays an example of a bluff undergoing erosional processes. Water from the ocean, delivered in waves, can overtop some of these coastal bluffs.

The U.S. west coast is an area of complex coastal geography. This photograph depicts several examples of geological features along the California coastline that are shaped by varied coastal processes. The gently sloping beach, stark bluffs, and presence of smooth rocks suggests that the coastal processes shaping this coastline are complex.