Images

Mount St. Helens: Land of Transformation video shows the changes to the landscape from before the May 18, 1980 eruption to today (2024).

During the March 21, 2024 lahar evacuation drills, thousands of students walked to the Washington State Fairgrounds in Puyallup, Washington to practice evacuating from a lahar generated by Mount Rainier. A lahar, or volcanic mudflow, could reach this area in about 3 hours.

South Cascade Glacier area change, 1970 - 2021.  South Cascade Glacier located in a north-northwest facing valley near the crest of the Cascade Range in northwest Washington state.

A hydrologic technician uses a cableway to measure streamflow in the Pend Oreille River on a winter day. On-shore, a computer shows streamflow data in real-time, allowing the team to monitor their progress.

Map of areas predicted as having conditions favorable for fostering a hydrothermal system in the western United States.  Black dots are mapped hydrothermal systems.  From Mordensky et al., 2023 (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0375650523000160).

A new test for white-nose syndrome-causing fungus in bats has been developed using a CRISPR biosensor. If white-nose syndrome-causing fungus is present, the reaction tube will glow under UV light.

A new test for white-nose syndrome-causing fungus in bats has been developed using a CRISPR biosensor. If white-nose syndrome-causing fungus is present, the reaction tube will glow under UV light.

WFRC scientist Lisa Wetzel uses a fluorescing stereoscope to look for microplastics in samples of Smallmouth Bass tissue provided by the Nez Perce Tribe, Idaho.

This is a drone photo of the bio-acoustic fish fence in the Georgiana Slough, a tributary of the Sacramento River Delta. It is used to guide fish safely out to the ocean.

Workflow for integrating fire behavior modeling into post-fire hazard risk models. QUIC-Fire is a fast, 3-D simulation tool for prescribed fire planning. It can help managers understand the complex and dynamic behavior of wildland fires.

Monitoring station VALT, in the crater of Mount St. Helens, in 2023. Anxious about damage to the station from the advancing Crater Glacier (the rock and snow-covered cliff) and hazards to people working at the site, a CVO field team dismantled VALT on June 6, 2024 after 18 years in service. It will be rebuilt farther from the glacier. 

Elodea and other aquatic plants grow in a thick clump in Clarks Creek, WA. Plants growing in streams may change the water chemistry as well as how quickly water can flow through the stream. USGS scientists study these dynamics.

USGS Hydrologic Technician Katie Johnson measures streamflow in Tokul Creek near Snoqualmie, WA (12145000). 

Stormwater assessment site on the Moclips River Near Moclips, WA on the Quinault Indian Nation Tribal land. 

Dr. Gael Kurath, Joanne Salzer and Bill Batts joining Spokane fish health scientist Rebecca Cook and Spokane Tribal intern Justine Flett to conduct virus exposures in the WFRC Seattle weblab.

Joanne Salzer and Spokane Tribal intern, Justine Flett, conducting virus exposures in the WFRC Seattle wetlab. Our scientists are collaborating with the fisheries staff from the Spokane Tribe and Coeur d'Alene Tribe in a study to determine how susceptible Redband trout are to IHN virus (infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus).

Animated GIF of a cobbled streambed along the Elwha River in Washington State, from The Elwha River: Landscapes of Recovery Geonarrative 

Scientists demonstrate equipment used to measure fluxes between groundwater and surface water. These interactions are particularly complex in tidally influenced shorelines such as Sinclair Inlet, WA. 

A seepage meter implanted in the sediment-water interface of a tidal beach. The meter allows scientists to measure interactions between groundwater and surface water.

Photo (left to right): Dr. David Paez, Joanne Salzer, Jossline Aranda-Jackson (SEALASKA intern), and Dr. Gael Kurath sampling a patch of sea asparagus near the Western Fisheries Research Center’s Marrowstone Marine Field Station (MMFS).

WFRC partners with researchers investigating the causes of Sea Star Wasting Disease and the impacts of viral infection on fish swimming performance. Left - right: Dr. David Paez, Dr.