Images

Bedrock exposed at low tide along the beach at Isla Vista, California

Exposed bedrock on the beach during very low (negative) tide at Isla Vista, California

A net sedimentation tile (NST) is used by scientists to measure surface sediment deposition in wetlands over short time scales. Scientists installed several NSTs on the surface of the marsh to measure sediment deposition. The samples are retrieved and measured in the lab to identify short-term sediment deposition rates on the marsh surface.

USGS oceanographer Dan Hoover uses a GPS-equipped backpack to measure sand elevations near the mouth of the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz, California, January 12, 2017. Surveys like this make long-term studies of coastal change possible.

An atmospheric river, or narrow band of moisture moving from the tropics to the higher latitudes, hit California in early January and brought the first heavy rains of 2017. While these storms help a drought-stricken state, the onslaught of rain triggers floods and mudslides, and fills rising rivers with sediment and debris.

USGS scientists readying a sonar-equipped boat to map the ocean bottom near Santa Cruz, Calif.

A sonar-equipped personal watercraft mapping the bathymetry underwater near Santa Cruz, Calif.

USGS scientist Daniel Hoover mapping the beach at Santa Cruz with a GPS-equipped backpack unit.

 USGS scientists setting up a lidar scanner on the pier to map the beach near Capitola, California.

Sand ridge morphology and bedform migration patterns offshore of Assateague Island

Sandy Brosnahan performing first solo flight as a USGS certified drone pilot.  There are multiple exciting applications for drone imagery including erosion studies and physical changes to coastal ecosystems over time. 

Groundwater data were collected in the spring and fall of 2008 from three sites representing different geological settings and biogeochemical conditions within the surficial glacial aquifer of Long Island, NY.

Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, New Jersey Study SIte

Browse graphic of Edwin B Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge study area

Map showing the surficial geology of Vineyard and western Nantucket Sounds with equivalent onshore geology (adapted from Stone and DiGiacomo-Cohen, 2009). The areal extents over which offshore subsurface geologic units crop out at the sea floor were interpreted from seismic-reflection data.

Piping Plover chicks

USGS scientist Sara Zeigler records habitat characteristics in iPlover at an ‘exclosed’ nest. On some beaches, managers erect netting around nests to protect eggs/chicks and adults from predators, allowing movement of chicks and parents to and from the nest but excluding predators

Coastal and Marine Geology Program web team members receive their awards at the USGS Awards Ceremony on May 3, 2016. From left to right: USGS Director Suzette Kimball, who presented the awards; Jolene Gittens; Greg Miller; Kerry Rae, Chief of Staff for Jennifer Gimbel, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, U.S. Dept.

A humpback whale breaches the surface of the ocean near a coastline. Humpback whales migrate towards warmer waters during the cold winter months.

Map of Panama, with the Pacific Coast on the southern (lower) side. The Gulf of Panama is also shown to the southern side of Panama.

Collecting a coral core in the Gulf of Chiriqui, Panama, by forcing a 20-foot aluminum tube into the reef. This core retrieved about 6,000 years of reef history.