Images

Elkhorn corals (Acropora palmata) on the seafloor along the northeastern coast of Buck Island, U.S. Virgin Islands, have died and collapsed into rubble. As coral reef structure degrades, habitat for marine life is lost and nearby coastlines become more susceptible to storms, waves, and erosion.

Healthy elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) on the seafloor along the southeastern coast of Buck Island, U.S. Virgin Islands. Elkhorn coral is one of many important reef-building species that create 3D structure on the seafloor. Coral reef structure provides habitat for marine life and helps break up waves as they approach the coastline.

From left to right: Associate Director for Core Science Systems Kevin Gallagher, Research Oceanographer Rich Signel, and Chief, Office of Enterprise Information/Associate Chief Information Officer Tim Quinn.

Eroding bluffs on Moss Landing State Beach, California, March 2016

Perspective views of multibeam bathymetry data acquired by the USGS aboard the R/V Medeia. Shallower depths in red. Arrows point to the distinct line in the seafloor associated with the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault.

Resurrection Bay on August 8, 2016. The water appeared calm in the shelter of the inner bay, but closer to the entrance, swells coming in from the Gulf of Alaska were breaking on a small beach where the three boaters had capsized.

USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center's Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection and Restoration Act (CWPPRA) outreach office staff were on hand at the World Wetlands Day celebration hosted by the Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum and South Louisiana Wetlands Discovery Center as local students learned about the different types of wetlands in Louisiana.

Left: Key features in and around the Gulf of Alaska. A black rectangle outlines our 2016 study area along the Queen Charlotte-Fairweather fault. Red arrows indicate relative tectonic plate motions. Right: A shaded relief map of the 2016 study area. Rainbow colors show seafloor depths acquired by the USGS in 2015 and 2016. Red indicates shallower depths.

Gas hydrate (white material) binding together coarse-grained sediments made up of pebble-sized rocks. This sample was recovered during a project to explore permafrost-associated gas hydrates in Canada’s Mackenzie Delta.

Scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of agglutinated marsh foraminifera Entzia macrescens.

Michael Casso, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center physical scientist,  seeks volunteers from Children’s School of Science students to have their breath measured for carbon dioxide and methane, greenhouse gases USGS scientists measure in the oceans

Video camera atop a hotel in Madeira Beach, Florida.

Ice-like gas hydrates under capping rock encrusted with mussels on the sea floor of the northern Gulf of America.

USGS pilot Sandy Brosnahan and Senate Pro Tempore Marc Pacheco discuss the use of Umanned Aerial Systems (UASs, also known as drones) to collect data in coastal environments.

(Top) Methane plumes at the Norfolk Canyon seeps (~1600 meters or 5250 feet) were detected using the EK60 sonar. The water column plumes are shown above the sub-seafloor structure as imaged by high-resolution multichannel seismic data acquired by the USGS and processed by J. Kluesner.

Map of the general expedition area on the northern U.S. Atlantic Margin between Baltimore Canyon and Cape Hatteras

 Map of distribution of fine- and coarse-grained sand, Stellwagen Bank.  Blue and purple = boulder ridges.  Redlines = leading edges of sand sheets

Methane bubbles emerging from the seafloor at a seep site colonized by chemosynthetic mussels at ~1000 m water depth on the Virginia margin. Photograph taken by the Global Explorer operated by Oceaneering Inc.

USGS ocean engineers Peter Dal Ferro and Gerry Hatcher, from the Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, California, deploying a multicorer to sample the seafloor near an Atlantic margin methane seep site.

It's a bird? It's a plane? It's a drone! USGS drone pilot Emily Sturdivant (seated) demonstrates flying an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), much to the delight of the onlookers. 

Gerry Hatcher (left) and Shawn Harrison work on their video-camera station atop a hotel in Santa Cruz, California.