Images

Maps show eelgrass distribution (left) along the tracklines followed by the boat (right).

Most underwater seismic data is collected from large research vessels; however, the shoreface environment is shallower than areas in which most seismic surveys occur. To get the information we need to assess changes in shoreface geology, we mount our seismic instruments on pontoon floats and deploy the instrument from the beach.

We mount our seismic instrument on pontoon floats with wheels. This setup is deployed from the beach and eventually towed behind our survey vessel.

Illustration shows the cross-section of a barrier island progressing from ocean (on the right) to marsh and then lagoon (on the left). 

Storm and sea level rise scenario models, like the one shown here, can be used to explore the future. This model shows what Dauphin Island may look like 10 years from now if storms become stronger and more frequent (Passeri and others, 2018).

This model shows what Dauphin Island, Alabama, may look like under moderate storms but with increasing rates of sea level rise (Passeri and others, 2018).

Left to right: USGS scientist Josh Logan, USGS contractor Babak Tehranirad, and USGS contractor Rae Taylor-Burns (University of California-Santa Cruz graduate student) collect beach elevation data near Moss Landing, California, with precision GPS units carried in their backpacks.

Map of the Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket study sites outlined in red.

 R/V Petrel surveying off Beach Haven, NJ during USGS FA 2018-001-FA

RV Petrel towing subbottom profiler (yellow raft) parallel to the beach to measure the thickness of sand offshore.

Amy Gartman waits for an X-ray diffractometer to analyze samples of hydrothermal sulfide minerals. 

Animation showing contaminants entering the ocean through the large river discharge following Hurricane Florence (higher concentrations displayed with lighter color).

Topography and bathymetry of southern Cascadia, which includes southern Oregon and northern California (seafloor depths between 200 and 3000 m are shown in the spectrum color scale from red (shallower) to purple (deeper). The land and continental shelf are shown in grayscale slope shading where darker colors represent steeper slopes.

Reefs provide protection from waves and wave-driven flooding. A snapshot from the simulation of wave-driven flooding and island overwash for an annual storm at the Republic of the Marshall Islands is shown.

USGS scientists retrieve and process samples from an ecological processing monitoring station. Each station includes a caged native mussel (shown attached to the buoy rope) and a sampler for measuring invertebrate consumers

Scientist surveying the presence and behavior of birds at Pelican Island, Alabama. The CMHRP is working with personnel within the Ecosystems Mission Area on this project to identify how physical characteristics of barrier islands influence use by wintering shorebirds.

Top row, left to right: Cordell Johnson (left) and Evan Dailey use the USGS R/V Fast Eddy to collect water samples. Cordell Johnson (left) and Jessie Lacy prepare to deploy a tripod holding instruments to measure water level, currents, and suspended sediment.

A brain coral infected with Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in April 2018.

An aerial view, collected from a USGS UAS, of Hawai‛i’s fissure 8 cone, and the start of the 8-mile lava flow to reach the ocean entry point.

Perspective view of part of the Big Sur Bend in the San Gregorio-Hosgri fault. The steep slope beside the fault results from uplift along the fault, which is part of the strike-slip fault system that forms the boundary in California between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates.

The beach-dependent shorebirds project at the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center models current and future habitat availability for nesting shorebirds in an effort to map current and likely future habitat availability on a range of sites along the U.S. Atlantic coast.