Images

Validating satellite observations of water quality includes measuring the incident lighting conditions. Here solar radiation is measured with a spectral radiometer on Fernan Lake, Idaho.

A view of the Boulder Mountains from US-12 west of Helena. These mountains lie at the north end of the Boulder Batholith.

Pit dug for collection of geologic data and observations, such as geochronology samples to determine the age of faulted surfaces and documentation and dating of faulted recent sediments of the Puya Fault in northern New Mexico, 4/25/2023.

Map showing distribution of average annualized earthquake loss by region. The high concentration of loss in California and the West Coast is consistent with that region’s high seismic hazard, significant population, and building exposure. 

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Although most economic loss is concentrated along the west coast, the distribution of relative earthquake risk, as measured by the Annualized Earthquake Loss Ratio (AELR), is spread throughout the country and it reinforces the fact that earthquakes are a national problem.

This is a screenshot of the INHABIT web-based decision support tool for invasive species habitat visualization and assessment across the contiguous United States

The large HTHH volcanic explosion created fast low-frequency pressure waves that penetrated about 3.1 miles/5 kilometers into the shallow crust (shown in yellow). Wind and small explosions (shown in blue) create shorter pressure waves that only penetrate down about 328 feet/100 meters.

The waveforms of the ground motion recording and the pressure sensor recording from a station with both types of instruments (see second image above) match up, indicating that the pressure waves are causing the ground (crust) to deflect.

This research effort is an interagency partnership between U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to model the social-ecological system that encompasses chronic wasting disease management in the United States.

Sodium fluorescein dye injection into the Slate River used to measure how much groundwater flows into it. 

A Piper Navajo fixed-wing aircraft with rear facing stinger magnetometer. Credit: New-Sense Geophysics Limited 

Measuring water leaving radiance with the spectral radiometer in Lake Cascade, Idaho as part of an effort to validate satellite data over water.

An AS350 helicopter with forward facing stinger magnetometer. Credit: New-Sense Geophysics Limited 

Bear Lake, Colorado is a high alpine lake near tree line that is affected by regional to local fires and vegetation changes.

Map showing helicopter survey area and near Granby, Colo. Surveys will not occur directly above populated areas. Black circle indicates study area.

USGS researchers collect surface water samples on the Animas River, New Mexico, June 2022

Helicopter conducting low-level flights. Image courtesy Sander Geophysics Ltd.

Drought Intensity Map compiled by the U.S. Drought Monitor for the area of NOAA's Colorado River Basin River Forecast Center, which includes part of the Great Basin drainage area in western Utah, for April 19, 2024.

Loch Vale is one of 250 sites in the National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network (NADP/NTN). Precipitation samples are collected weekly to present local and national data of pollutants and other chemicals in rain and snow since 1978.

Vehicles drive on interstate I-70 in Glenwood Canyon, Colorado. In the summer of 2021, travelers in Colorado's Glenwood Canyon were safely evacuated before massive debris flows buried highways and destroyed bridges, thanks to a debris flow warning system developed in part by the U.S. Geological Survey.