Images

Acoustic backscatter intensity data are an indication of the relative hardness or softness of the sea floor, which is closely related to sediment texture and cohesion. The map shows acoustic backscatter intensity of the sea floor in the Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts.

USGS hydrologist Kaitlyn Colella and a Shinnecock Nation member work together gathering oyster and bed sediment samples along Long Island, New York, coast.

 Left to right: Mike Bastoni (volunteer) and Lisa Engler (Massachusetts Bays Program) deploying the USGS-desgined SEABed Observation and Sampling System (SEABOSS) from Ocean Survey Vessel Bold, with Marinna Martini (USGS) running the winch

Sand dunes in Avon on Cape Hatteras, NC are the only separation between many beach house communities and the Atlantic Ocean. 

Shaded relief image of Vineyard Sound, MA

Hurricane Sandy struck the New Jersey shore October 29–31, 2012. Houses, cars, and a street in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, were covered in beach sand after the hurricane's storm tide receded

 Westco discrete nutrient analyzer measures low-levels of nutrients in water samples

Scientists collect cores on the Savannah River (December 2012). 

A rapid deployment gage that was installed ahead of Hurricane Sandy on a bridge in Newburyport, Massachusetts.

After Hurricane Sandy, USGS researchers survey elevation at the location of a wrack line, indicating a high-water level mark, on Block Island, Rhode Island.

Overwash processes caused by storms, like the one seen here following Hurricane Sandy on a barrier island in Virginia, push sand landward over dunes to create low-elevation, minimally vegetated sandy habitats used by a variety of species, like piping plovers.

A USGS hydrologist takes a high-water level measurement on a piling of the Department of Fish and Game Public Boat Ramp in Scituate Harbor in Plymouth County, Massachusetts.

USGS attached a storm-tide sensor to a piling in Barnstable, Massachusetts ahead of Hurricane Sandy. 

A coastal home damaged by Hurricane Sandy's historic storm surge on a beach in Rhode Island.

A coastal home damaged by Hurricane Sandy's historic storm surge on a beach in Rhode Island.

USGS hydrologist operating Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) on Long Island shore after Hurricane Sandy.

Barrier-island breach created by Hurricane Sandy at Fire Island National Seashore, N.Y.

A coastal home damaged by Hurricane Sandy's historic storm surge on a beach in Rhode Island.

Oblique aerial photograph Fire Island, New York. The
view is looking northwest across Fire Island towards Great South Bay. This
location is within Fire Island National Seashore near Old Inlet—a very narrow
portion of the island that has experienced breaching in previous large storms.
The island breached during Hurricane Sandy, creating a new inlet.

USGS New England Water Science Center hydrologist measures a high-water level mark along the garage door of a coastal Connecticut home after Hurricane Sandy.

Flooding from Hurricane Sandy breaks up a sidewalk at Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut.