Polar Bears!

While browsing at the US Geological Survey’s photo collections, I thought I’d have a look around, and what I found in its Animals album are some more polar bear images for you. Based on blog stats, public domain images of polar bears are popular, so add these to the three posts of mine that featured the bears last year (one, two, three).

Interestingly, a number of these shots were credited to a Coast Guard photographer, so I thought I’d have a look there, too, and while I was at it, check to see if the US Fish and Wildlife Service had any new pictures.

 

Title: On Thin Ice
Description: A polar bear slides across thin Arctic Ocean ice Aug. 21, 2009.
Date Taken: 8/21/2009
Photographer: Patrick Kelley, U.S. Coast Guard

Title: Polar Bear
Description: A polar bear rests on the ice Aug. 23, 2009, after following the Coast Guard Cutter Healy for nearly an hour.
Date Taken: 8/23/2009
Photographer: Patrick Kelley, U.S. Coast Guard

Antique Scientific Instruments in the US Geological Survey Museum

First, a question. Tonight when I opened this site using IE, most of the pictures for my last post didn’t load. They did load on Firefox, however. Is anyone else having trouble?

When I was working on the Lesser Known Volcanoes of the USA post, I thought I’d have a look around the US Geological Survey’s Multimedia Gallery. It took me a little time to figure out how to navigate it. When you get to the Gallery’s homepage, you will find three divisions: Photography, Video, and Audio. For each a recent collection is highlighted. For example, tonight in Photography, Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill – Landsat is featured. Clicking on the image gets you to that collection alone. To see what other images are available, you need to go to Browse by or View all.

Choosing Browse by Collections for Photography, you’ll find 21 collections. The number of pictures in each varies widely, from just 2 in National Parks to 913 in Natural Hazards.

Tonight’s posts are a selection of the 152 photos in the USGS Museum section. I have used the captions provided by the USGS staff as well. Unless otherwise noted, the photographer is listed as USGS Museum Staff. All are public domain, but the USGS asks that a credit line is given: Credit: U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior/USGS, and photographer, if named.

I never knew what a benchmark was until I saw these pictures: read on.

Quintant Sextant or Lattice Sextant

Description: This instrument was manufactured by Spencer, Browning & Rust, London. A sextant is used for measuring the altitude of the sun or another celestial body; such measurements can then be used to determine the observer’s geographical position or for other navigational, surveying, or astronomical applications. Dating from the 1820s-1850s, this instrument is among the earliest objects in the U.S. Geological Survey museum collection. Object ID: USGS-000220

Lesser Known Volcanos of the USA

Next month marks the 30th anniversary of the eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington State. But did you know that in the United States alone there are 169 volcanoes defined as active by the U.S. Geological Survey and that 54 of these are considered to pose a threat to the public?  Here’s a map of the 169 from the U.S. Geological Survey [USGS], which is also the source of  the map’s caption, as well as the other public domain images and information in this post.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is responsible for monitoring our Nation’s 170 active volcanoes (red triangles) for signs of unrest and for issuing timely warnings of hazardous activity to government officials and the public. This responsibility is carried out by scientists at the five volcano observatories operated by the USGS Volcano Hazards Program and also by State and university cooperators.

Just this past August (8/20/09), Shishaldin Volcano on Unimak Island, part of Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, was erupted. [Photographer: Cyrus Read, U.S. Geological Survey]