Publications

The processes of landscape change are complex, exhibiting spatial variability as well as linear, cyclical, and reversible characteristics. To better understand the various processes that cause transformation, a data aggregation, validation, and attribution approach was developed and applied to an analysis of the Southeastern Coastal Plains (SECP). The approach integrates information from available

Cultivating annual row crops in high topographic relief waterway buffers has negative environmental effects and can be environmentally unsustainable. Growing perennial grasses such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) for biomass (e.g., cellulosic biofuel feedstocks) instead of annual row crops in these high relief waterway buffers can improve local environmental conditions (e.g., reduce soil eros

Satellite-derived evapotranspiration anomalies and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) products from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data are currently used for African agricultural drought monitoring and food security status assessment. In this study, a process to evaluate satellite-derived evapotranspiration (ETa) products with a geospatial statistical exploratory

The methodology for selection, creation, and application of a global remote sensing validation dataset using high resolution commercial satellite data is presented. High resolution data are obtained for a stratified random sample of 500 primary sampling units (5 km × 5 km sample blocks), where the stratification based on Köppen climate classes is used to distribute the sample globally among biomes

Anthropogenic disturbances resulting from human land use affect forest landscapes over a range of spatial and temporal scales, with diverse influences on vegetation patterns and dynamics. These processes fall within the scope of the coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) concept, which has emerged as an important framework for understanding the reciprocal interactions and feedbacks that connect

LANDFIRE, also known as the Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools Program, is a vegetation, fire, and fuel characteristic mapping program managed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior. LANDFIRE represents the first, and only, complete, nationally consistent collection of spatial resource datasets with an ecological foundation t

When emergencies occur, first responders and disaster response teams often need rapid access to aerial photography and satellite imagery that is acquired before and after the event. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Hazards Data Distribution System (HDDS) provides quick and easy access to pre- and post-event imagery and geospatial datasets that support emergency response and recovery operations. T

Annual disturbance maps are produced by the LANDFIRE program across the conterminous United States (CONUS). Existing LANDFIRE disturbance data from 1999 to 2010 are available and current efforts will produce disturbance data through 2012. A tiling and compositing approach was developed to produce bi-annual images optimized for change detection. A tiled grid of 10,000 × 10,000 30 m pixels was defin

The success of modeling groundwater is strongly influenced by the accuracy of the model parameters that are used to characterize the subsurface system. However, the presence of uncertainty and possibly bias in groundwater model source/sink terms may lead to biased estimates of model parameters and model predictions when the standard regression-based inverse modeling techniques are used. This study

Analysis of the relationship between evapotranspiration (ET) and its natural and anthropogenic drivers is critical in water-limited basins such as the Nile. The spatiotemporal relationships of ET with rainfall and vegetation dynamics in the Nile Basin during 2002–2011 were analyzed using satellite-derived data. Non-parametric statistics were used to quantify ET-rainfall interactions and trends acr

Federal lands across the conterminous United States (CONUS) account for 23.5% of the CONUS terrestrial area but have received no systematic studies on their ecosystem carbon (C) dynamics and contribution to the national C budgets. The methodology for US Congress-mandated national biological C sequestration potential assessment was used to evaluate ecosystem C dynamics in CONUS federal lands at pre

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center has several educational resources that demonstrate how satellite imagery is used to understand our changing world.