Images

An remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) or drone, equipped with a camera, sits on the Arctic tundra awaiting a radio signal that tells it to fly.

Example of a low-oblique photograph taken with an unmanned aerial system (UAS), or drone, of the coastal bluffs of Barter Island on North Slope of Alaska. The photographs from different time periods can be compared, using a technique called structure-from-motion photogrammetry, to measure changes in the coastal bluffs.

USGS scientists use specialized equipment to measure sediment dynamics in nearshore and coastal systems. Access by boat is limited in these areas, so personal watercraft are equipped with GPS and echosounders to collect bathymetric data. Seismic sleds are pulled along transects from the beach across the water to measure changes in sediment type below the water.

USGS scientist Chelsea Stalk stands on a floating sled that enables sub‐bottom surveying in shallow water, nearshore, and shore‐face environments. The sled is equipped with an EdgeTech SB‐512i CHIRP system and single‐beam sonar. This equipment is used to collect seismic sub‐bottom profiles and single‐beam bathymetry.

Science party on board University of Washington’s research vessel Rachel Carson, who conducted geophysical surveys and tripod deployment in and around Astoria Canyon. From left to right: Gerry Hatcher (USGS), Maureen Walton (USGS), Jenna Hill (USGS), Andrea Ogston (UW), Anna Boyar (UW), Alicia Balster-Gee (USGS), Evan Lahr (UW).

USGS members of the science party on board R/V Rachel Carson prepare the hydrophone streamer for deployment.

Sunset photo taken during Cape Cod Bay sea-floor mapping cruise.

The instrumented tripod is successfully brought onboard for data download.

USGS scientist B.J. Reynolds sets up a solar-powered, satellite-uplinked GPS base station in the Fire Island Wilderness Area to support detailed elevation surveys.

Members of the science party and the crew of R/V Rachel Carson work to recover an instrumented tripod.

 Before deploying the subbottom profiler for leg 2 of the seafloor mapping cruise, Wayne Baldwin, Alex Nichols, and Chuck Worley made sure the floats were sufficiently inflated. In the relatively shallow waters of Cape Cod Bay, they want the instrument towed at water's surface for the resolution of the sub seafloor geology.

Heading back to Cape Cod Bay after a crew change in Boston, MA

Seth Ackerman processing the seafloor mapping data as they are collected on the Cape Cod Bay 2019 research cruise.

Sometimes the fog can be as thick as pea soup! The captains use radar and keen eyesight to navigate in such conditions. Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center staff,  Alex Nichols and Wayne Baldwin,  take a sound velocity cast off the back of the boat.
 

Video camera snapshot at Tres Palmas in Rincón, on the west coast of Puerto Rico.

Four video cameras look westward over the coast and the coral reef at Tres Palmas in Rincón, on the west coast of Puerto Rico. Two cameras look out at the horizon and over the ocean for the mid-field view; one camera offers a zoomed-in, far-field view overlooking the reef and out to the island of Desecheo, a U.S.

Four video cameras look westward over the coast and the coral reef at Tres Palmas in Rincón, on the west coast of Puerto Rico. Two cameras look out at the horizon and over the ocean for the mid-field view; one camera offers a zoomed-in, far-field view overlooking the reef and out to the island of Desecheo, a U.S.

Photograph collected from a UAS flown over the beach at Tres Palmas in Rincón, Puerto Rico.

A colorful sunrise appears over the horizon of a calm ocean offshore of Melbourne, Florida. USGS Scientist RC Mickey collects data for location and elevation of sea turtle crawls and associated beach profiles this stretch of coastline.

Aerial view of a gas flux tower in Great Barnstable Marsh in Barnstable, Massachusetts.

 Research scientist Meagan Gonneea and USGS intern Angela Trejo survey the Jones River in Kingston, MA. Removal of a dam across the Jones River began July 15, 2019, as a first step to restore river habitat, which is particularly critical for herring passage from the sea to inland lakes for spawning.