Images

Christie gears up to survey beach elevation in Santa Cruz, CA with a precise and accurate GPS unit mounted to her backpack. The GPS unit on her backpack communicates with a nearby "base station" to minimize errors in location.

USGS scientists Jonathan Warrick and Jeff Duda receiving Riverprize recognition in New Delhi, India. Image courtesy of International Riverfoundation.

A polar bear rests in a field on Barter Island, Alaska.

Polar bear lounging on Alaska’s north coast.

USGS coral reef scientists, from left to right: Jill Bourque, Cheryl Morrison, Nancy Prouty, Katharine Coykendall, Amanda Demopoulos, and Christina Kellogg. All women presented their research at the 6th International Symposium of Deep Sea Corals, September 11-16, 2016.

Aerial photograph of Breton Island, Sept. 7, 2016. The USGS Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program studies changes to coastal landscapes such as barrier islands.

Aerial photograph looking west along Dauphin Island, Alabama, taken in September 2016.

Aerial photograph of the mouth of the Elwha River showing sediment deposits from dam removal. Aerial assistance by LightHawk and plane piloted by Dr. Milton Bennett.

During the symposium, participants could tour the facilities at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, such as this radiocarbon lab. Here scientists analyze the amount of radiocarbon in such material as coral or wood to help determine their age. Photo credit: Amy West, USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center

Time-lapse cameras on Barter Island, North Slope of Alaska, incurred damage from polar bears who used the camera pole as a scratching post.

Otter Rock, Oregon. The Oregon coast is one of the areas that could be affected by a large earthquake on the Cascadia subduction zone.

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.

Seth Ackerman, Sea-Floor Mapping Group Geologist, answering questions about Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center’s underwater video capabilities and data collection tools.

Tarandeep Kalra, Sediment Transport Group Scientific Programmer, setting up computer-generated simulations from a three-dimensional modeling system. This was a display at the Woods Hole Science Stroll on August 6, 2016.

USGS and collaborators from Marine Biological Laboratory and Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve building research infrastructure at a salt marsh field site (Cape Cod, MA).

Digital still photograph from Massachusetts Bay near Scituate, MA showing Spiny Sunstar (Crossaster papposus), yellow encrusting Crumb of Bread Sponge (Halichondria panacea) on rock (top center), white tubular (right bottom corner) and boulders covered in pink bubblegum algae. Water depth at this location is approximately 27 meters.

Neil Ganju and Patrick Dickhudt prepare a bottom-mounted current meter for deployment in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey.

Research project posters created by Oceanography Camp for Girls campers were displayed in the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center lobby.

Ox Bel Ha Cave Project Field Team Members (left to right) David Brankovits (TAMUG), Jake Emmert (Moody Gardens), John Pohlman (USGS), and Francisco Bautista De La Cruz (Speleotech).

The Raptor Maps, Inc. X8 fixed-wing unmanned aerial system deploying its parachute at the end of the second mission. The first mission lasted 70 minutes and flew at about 120 meters above ground level with two 14 megapixel cameras. The second mission flew lower and longer (90 minutes), and mapped the same region with a near-infrared camera.

Screenshot of the dense point cloud consisting of 430 million georeferenced, colored points derived from the rgb (red-green-blue) UAS images. The blue flags indicate ground control points used to constrain the photogrammetric reconstruction.