Images

USGS scientists doing real time kinematic measurements with a GPS pole on intertidal section of beach.

Polar bear lounging on Alaska’s north coast.

Rain gage on Long Island

Cuyahoga River at Independence OH - downstream of gage

The City of Gary, Indiana and the Gary Sanitary District are committed to implementing green infrastructure solutions to reduce storm water inputs to their combined sewer system, with the goal of decreasing the volume of storm water to be treated.

A buoy warning of the under-bay sewage treatment plant pipeline appears to guide the AUV on its course; confirming that the AUV’s position is accurate. The AUV uses a differential global positioning system (GPS) receiver and bottom-tracking Doppler velocimetry log (DVL) to maintain position.

Retrieval and Results

Processed data are exported to two- and three- dimensional mapping applications to visualize water-quality distributions.  Combined with observed water currents and bathymetric contours, this allows for an integrated analysis of the system under investigation.

The AUV travels along the under-bay section of the Bergen Point Sewage Treatment Plant outfall pipe in Babylon, NY. The goal is to see if changes in surrounding water-quality suggest potential leaks in the aging infrastructure.

If the vehicle becomes stuck or disabled at depth, a hydrophone can be used to locate the submerged instrument. When at the surface, the AUV can send its retrieval location to a web server or cell phone.

This autonomous instrument reduces the time and manpower traditionally needed for manned-boat surveys. Because geologic, biologic, hydraulic, and chemical data are collected simultaneously; the datasets allow for a systems-based approach to analysis.

The AUV navigates to its starting position before diving to a fixed distance off the seabed to measure dissolved oxygen concentrations in the Great South Bay, Long Island, NY.  The goal is to document the spatial extent of low dissolved oxygen concentrations, or hypoxia, to identify the best habitat for juvenile hard clam survival.

USGS Scientists launching an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV)

Groundwater-level Monitoring for Characterization of Hydraulic Connections in the Basal Sand & Gravel Aquifer, Hoosic River Valley, Hoosick Falls, New York

In July of 2016, a team from the Climate and Land Use Research and Development Program took a trip to South Carolina to study outcrops of the “Canepatch” and “Socastee” formations along the Intra-Coastal Waterway, near Myrtle Beach. The age of these fossiliferous marine units has been controversial for several decades.

Eagle Creek at Zionsville, IN - Flowtracker measurement

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.

Eagle Creek at Zionsville, IN - low flow

Allen Creek, near the Town of Brighton, New York, flows over rock, creating the stunning Postcard Falls at Corbett's Glen Nature Park. Learn about the water quality of Allen Creek and other Northeast streams studied by the USGS Northeast Stream Quality Assessment here.

Peter VanMetre and Jennifer Krstolic making a habitat assessment in the Bronx River, NY as a part of the 2016 USGS National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) stream quality assessment in the northeastern United States.

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.