Publications
Below is a list of the most recent EROS peer-reviewed scientific papers, reports, fact sheets, and other publications. You can search all our publication holdings by type, topic, year, and order.
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Filter Total Items: 2456
Parcels versus pixels: modeling agricultural land use across broad geographic regions using parcel-based field boundaries
Land use and land cover (LULC) change occurs at a local level within contiguous ownership and management units (parcels), yet LULC models primarily use pixel-based spatial frameworks. The few parcel-based models being used overwhelmingly focus on small geographic areas, limiting the ability to assess LULC change impacts at regional to national scales. We developed a modified version of the Forecas
Authors
Terry L. Sohl, Jordan Dornbierer, Steve Wika, Kristi Sayler, Robert Quenzer
How misapplication of the hydrologic unit framework diminishes the meaning of watersheds
Hydrologic units provide a convenient but problematic nationwide set of geographic polygons based on subjectively determined subdivisions of land surface areas at several hierarchical levels. The problem is that it is impossible to map watersheds, basins, or catchments of relatively equal size and cover the whole country. The hydrologic unit framework is in fact composed mostly of watersheds and p
Authors
James M. Omernik, Glenn E. Griffith, Robert M. Hughes, James B. Glover, Marc H. Weber
A land cover change detection and classification protocol for updating Alaska NLCD 2001 to 2011
Monitoring and mapping land cover changes are important ways to support evaluation of the status and transition of ecosystems. The Alaska National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2001 was the first 30-m resolution baseline land cover product of the entire state derived from circa 2001 Landsat imagery and geospatial ancillary data. We developed a comprehensive approach named AKUP11 to update Alaska NLCD
Authors
Suming Jin, Limin Yang, Zhe Zhu, Collin G. Homer
A physical model for extreme drought over southwest Asia
The socioeconomic difficulties of southwest Asia, defined as the area bound by the domain 25°N–40°N and 40°E–70°E, are exacerbated by extreme precipitation deficits during the November–April rainy season. The precipitation deficits during many southwest Asia droughts have been examined in terms of the forcing by climate variability originating over the Pacific Ocean as a result of the El Niño–Sout
Authors
Andrew Hoell, Chris Funk, Mathew Barlow, Forrest Cannon
Community for Data Integration 2016 annual report
The Community for Data Integration (CDI) represents a dynamic community of practice focused on advancing science data and information management and integration capabilities across the U.S. Geological Survey and the CDI community. This annual report describes the various presentations, activities, and outcomes of the CDI monthly forums, working groups, virtual training series, and other CDI-sponso
Authors
Madison L. Langseth, Leslie Hsu, Jon Amberg, Norman Bliss, Andrew R. Bock, Rachel T. Bolus, R. Sky Bristol, Katherine J. Chase, Theresa M. Crimmins, Paul S. Earle, Richard Erickson, A. Lance Everette, Jeff T. Falgout, John Faundeen, Michael N. Fienen, Rusty Griffin, Michelle R. Guy, Kevin D. Henry, Nancy J. Hoebelheinrich, Randall J. Hunt, Vivian B. Hutchison, Drew A. Ignizio, Dana M. Infante, Catherine Jarnevich, Jeanne M. Jones, Tim Kern, Scott Leibowitz, Francis L. Lightsom, R. Lee Marsh, S. Grace McCalla, Marcia McNiff, Jeffrey T. Morisette, John C. Nelson, Tamar Norkin, Todd M. Preston, Alyssa Rosemartin, Roy Sando, Jason T. Sherba, Richard P. Signell, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Eric T. Sundquist, Colin B. Talbert, Roland J. Viger, Jake F. Weltzin, Sharon Waltman, Marc Weber, Daniel J. Wieferich, Brad Williams, Lisamarie Windham-Myers
Climatology and interannual variability of boreal spring wet season precipitation in the eastern Horn of Africa and implications for its recent decline
The 1981–2014 climatology and variability of the March–May eastern Horn of Africa boreal spring wet season are examined using precipitation, upper- and lower-level winds, low-level specific humidity, and convective available potential energy (CAPE), with the aim of better understanding the establishment of the wet season and the cause of the recent observed decline. At 850 mb, the development of t
Authors
Brant Liebmann, Ileana Blade, Dave Allured, Xiao-Wei Quan, Chris Funk, Martin P Hoerling, Andrew Hoell, Peter Peterson, Wassila Mamadou Thiaw
Land change monitoring, assessment, and projection (LCMAP) revolutionizes land cover and land change research
When nature and humanity change Earth’s landscapes - through flood or fire, public policy, natural resources management, or economic development - the results are often dramatic and lasting.Wildfires can reshape ecosystems. Hurricanes with names like Sandy or Katrina will howl for days while altering the landscape for years. One growing season in the evolution of drought-resistant genetics can tra
Authors
Steven Young
Developing criteria to establish Trusted Digital Repositories
This paper details the drivers, methods, and outcomes of the U.S. Geological Survey’s quest to establish criteria by which to judge its own digital preservation resources as Trusted Digital Repositories. Drivers included recent U.S. legislation focused on data and asset management conducted by federal agencies spending $100M USD or more annually on research activities. The methods entailed seeking
Authors
John Faundeen
Cloud detection algorithm comparison and validation for operational Landsat data products
Clouds are a pervasive and unavoidable issue in satellite-borne optical imagery. Accurate, well-documented, and automated cloud detection algorithms are necessary to effectively leverage large collections of remotely sensed data. The Landsat project is uniquely suited for comparative validation of cloud assessment algorithms because the modular architecture of the Landsat ground system allows for
Authors
Steven Curtis Foga, Pat Scaramuzza, Song Guo, Zhe Zhu, Ronald Dilley, Tim Beckmann, Gail L. Schmidt, John L. Dwyer, MJ Hughes, Brady Laue
Landsat Science Team: 2017 Winter meeting summary
The winter meeting of the NASA-U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat Science Team (LST) was held January 10-12, 2017, at Boston University. LST co-chairs Tom Loveland [USGS’s Earth Resources Observation and Science Center (EROS)—Senior Scientist], Jim Irons [NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)—Deputy Director, Earth Sciences Division], and Curtis Woodcock [Boston University—Professor and LST
Authors
Thomas Loveland, Michael A. Wulder, James R. Irons
Grand challenges in understanding the interplay of climate and land changes
Half of Earth’s land surface has been altered by human activities, creating various consequences on the climate and weather systems at local to global scales, which in turn affect a myriad of land surface processes and the adaptation behaviors. This study reviews the status and major knowledge gaps in the interactions of land and atmospheric changes and present 11 grand challenge areas for the sci
Authors
Shuguang Liu, Ben Bond-Lamberty, Lena R. Boysen, James D. Ford, Andrew Fox, Kevin Gallo, Jerry L. Hatfield, Geoffrey M. Henebry, Thomas G. Huntington, Zhihua Liu, Thomas R. Loveland, Richard J. Norby, Terry L. Sohl, Allison L. Steiner, Wenping Yuan, Zhao Zhang, Shuqing Zhao
U.S. Geological Survey distribution of European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 data
A partnership established between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) allows for USGS storage and redistribution of images acquired by the MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) on the European Union's Sentinel-2 satellite mission. The MSI data are acquired from a pair of satellites, Sentinel-2A and Sentinel-2B, which are part of a larger set of ESA missions focusing on d
Authors
Renee L. Pieschke