Images

USGS scientists aboard a boat measure an estuarine sediment push core collected in an acrylic barrel.

Side view of the oceanographic research vessel (R/V) Meteor floating on the ocean, taken from a distance.

Picture of the back of the (R/V) Meteor as it floats on the ocean, photo by Ferdinand Oberle.

One of the many passing bottom trawlers on the northwest Iberian shelf as seen from the R/V Meteor.

The light blue areas on this map of the Port of Los Angeles could flood during a 100-year storm with no sea level rise, according to CoSMoS forecasts. The port handled about \$270 billion of cargo in 2015.

Several factors affect sea cliff erosion including rain, rock strength, cliff toe height, wave energy, and coastal slope. 

Scientific equipment mounted on a tripod being deployed from the R/V Meteor.

A 14-cm upland peat auger sediment core of a brown peat above fine tan silty sand was collected from the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in May, 2016.

An adult piping plover. The piping plover is a small migratory shorebird listed as endangered in Canada and the U.S. Great Lakes, and threatened throughout the remainder of its U.S. breeding and winter range. Recent surveys indicate that there are only about 8,000 adults in existence.

In May 2016, Susan Russell-Robinson (Associate Coordinator of the USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program, third from right) and Dave Applegate (USGS Associate Director for Natural Hazards, left) celebrated with the team whose website “USGS Coastal and Marine Geology Program (CMGP, now called CMHRP

Image of the Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

Ground-Penetrating Radar instruments are towed across land. Data from this instrument show underlying sediment layers within the dune and barrier island, which may reveal patterns of growth and erosion.

A colony of the soft coral known as the "bent sea rod" stands bleached on a reef off of Islamorada, Florida. Hard and soft corals are presently bleaching- losing their symbiotic algae – all over the coral reefs of the Florida Keys due to unusually warm ocean temperatures this summer.

We collect terrestrial (barrier island) and marine (nearshore and estuarine) sediment cores to ground-truth geophysical observations. These cores are used to understand the history of barrier island formation and erosion.

Though often less intense than hurricanes, extratropical storms (e.g., nor’easters) occur more frequently and their impacts can be striking. Here, several years after Hurricane Sandy, winter nor’easters eroded sediments from an artificial dune at Fire Island, NY and moved them onto the beach and shoreface. Such erosion created a steep vertical face, or scarp.

The impacts of extreme storms can be striking. Here, winter nor’easters eroded sediments from an artificial dune at Fire Island, New York and moved them onto the beach and shoreface. Such erosion created a steep vertical face, or scarp. Erosion and overwash are expected to increase on Fire Island with rising sea levels. 

The Florida Keys reefs have been experiencing a severe disease outbreak from 2014 to present called Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD).

The USGS conducted UAS flights to map the Nauset Marsh and Coast Guard Beach areas of Cape Cod National Seashore on Tuesday, March 1, 2016. These are the first authorized UAS flights in the northeast region of the national park system, and were performed under a research permit according to FAA and DOI regulations. 

Physical scientist Jackson Currie steers a personal water craft (PWC) equipped with GPS and echo sounder through the waves of the nearshore area of Zmudowski State Beach in Moss Landing, California.

A tidal marsh at Billy Frank Jr. Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, WA.

Seafloor image at a deepwater (~1400 m water depth) seep site on the New England margin. Seafloor conditions here are well inside the pressure-temperature stability field for methane hydrate. Gas being emitted below the rock overhang has formed gas hydrate (the white ice-like material). Distinct bubbles are visible in the foreground. The red laser scale is 10 cm.