A National Topographic Change Mapping and Monitoring System

The three-dimensional (3D) form of the Earth’s surface results from both abiotic and biotic forces. Major abiotic forces, such as tectonic uplift, erosion, and climate, exert strong influence over land surface morphology. Biotic forces, including, significantly, humans, also shape the landscape, but often at different temporal and spatial scales and magnitudes than geologic forces. Because the processes shaping the land surface, as expressed in its topography, are ongoing, topographic change is ever present and is a factor that must be broadly considered in studies of natural and built environments. Remote sensing data, especially in the form of derived high-resolution measurements of the topography, have been widely used to assess 3D land surface changes. Despite significant advancements in topographic science over the past two decades, including the increased availability of high-quality topographic data, advances in change detection and analysis methods, and access to high performance computing, no consistent and broad-scale effort has been proposed or developed to systematically map and monitor 3D land surface changes across the U.S. The Topographic Change working group is defining the concepts, practical tools, and design for a national scale mapping and monitoring system that will enable an ongoing nationwide assessment of multi-scale 3D changes in the Earth’s surface, both natural and anthropogenic in origin, and demonstrating its functional capabilities for the science community.



Principal Investigator(s):

Dean Gesch (USGS - Earth Resources Observation and Science Center)

Jason Stoker (USGS - National Geospatial Program)

Giulia Sofia (University of Connecticut)

Jessica DeWitt (USGS - Florence Bascom Geoscience Center)