Special Topics

News and Information related to the recent earthquakes in Puerto Rico.

The dynamic coastal landscape of California’s Big Sur, about 140 mi south of San Francisco, is a setting where science disciplines in tectonics, landslides, coastal change, ecosystems, wildfire, and hydrology come together.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law makes historic investments in the USGS’ efforts to provide vital science to address critical minerals, preserve data and foster the next generation of geoscientists. In addition, the USGS is providing support to other Bipartisan Infrastructure Law priorities like ecosystem restoration, wildfire science, and unplugged oil and gas wells.

The Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) Applications Project develops enhanced topographic (land elevation) and bathymetric (water depth) datasets that serve as valuable resources for coastal hazards research and Earth science applications.

The USGS Colorado River Basin Actionable and Strategic Integrated Science and Technology (ASIST) initiative is a landscape scale project to accelerate interdisciplinary science and application of advanced technology for stakeholder-driven challenges in the Colorado River Basin.

Deep sea areas support unique ecosystems and are sources for energy and minerals. Exploring and mapping the oceans will help us fill gaps to better understand planetary-scale processes including tectonics and marine hazards; energy, mineral and biological resources; and other large-scale Earth systems.

Drought poses a serious threat to the resilience of communities and ecosystems in the U.S. USGS has developed a new coordinated and integrated drought science strategy that represents a new path forward towards understanding the complexity of drought issues, their impact on human and natural systems, and the opportunities to inform policy and decision-making for adaptation and mitigation.

The goal of Earth MRI is to improve our knowledge of the geologic framework in the United States and to identify areas that may have the potential to contain undiscovered critical mineral resources. Enhancement of our domestic mineral supply will decrease the Nation’s reliance on foreign sources of minerals that are fundamental to our security and economy.

EDNA is a multi-layered database derived from a version of the National Elevation Dataset (NED), which has been hydrologically conditioned for improved hydrologic flow representation. The seamless EDNA database provides 30 meters resolution raster and vector data layers.

The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) was established in 2009 to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the Great Lakes. The USGS is collaborating with partners to provide science to meet GLRI Action Plan goals and inform resource management decisions.

USGS provides science about ecosystems, natural hazards, water resources, energy, and minerals. Our scientists are conducting research in the Gulf of Mexico that investigates the past, present and future trajectories of coastal ecosystems, the stressors that impact those ecosystems, and restoration and management alternatives that aim to recover and sustain ecosystem functions and services.

When hurricanes threaten our coasts, the USGS provides comprehensive science and information that decision makers, emergency responders, resource managers, and communities can use to help them prepare for, cope with, and recover from a storm. Information gained from each storm continually advances our science capabilities to improve preparedness, reduce risk, and enhance our resilience.

Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) represents a new generation of land cover mapping and change monitoring from the U.S. Geological Survey’s Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. LCMAP answers a need for higher quality results at greater frequency with additional land cover and change variables than previous efforts.

The Landsat Program changed the world in 1972, just by looking at it. On a planet now orbited and observed by thousands of satellites, one where Earth surface imagery is just a tap away on any smartphone map, it’s easy to lose sight of just how revolutionary that idea was. 

Scientists at EROS look at local and global drivers of land-use change to project how different scenarios will impact and change landscapes. Using the FOREcasting SCEnarios of Land-use Change (FORE-SCE) modeling framework provides spatially explicit projections of future land-use and land-cover change. 

Microbiomes are the communities of microorganisms (for example, bacteria, viruses, and fungi) that live on, in, and around people, plants, animals, soil, water, and the atmosphere.

Science around the Mississippi River.

Climate change is expected to alter precipitation patterns worldwide, potentially increasing chances for drought in places where rainfall decreases over extended periods. Currently, droughts are responsible for $6 to $8 billion in losses each year in the United States alone. Accurate monitoring of drought conditions is vital in helping to mitigate drought impacts.

Graduate Research Opportunities at USGS (GRO @USGS)

The Planetary Geologic Mapping Program serves the international scientific community through the production of high-quality standardized geologic maps of planetary bodies and by providing support for planetary science and mapping efforts. This program is in coordination between NASA science programs and the USGS Astrogeology Science Center.

The Natural Hazards Mission of the USGS is to develop and apply science to help protect the safety, security, and economic well-being of the Nation. USGS provides a diverse set of expertise, data, and resources to reduce risk from multiple hazards.

Phenology is the study of plant and animal life cycles in relation to the seasons. EROS maintains a set of nine annual phenological metrics for the conterminous United States, all curated from satellite data. Taken together, the metrics represent a powerful tool for documenting life cycle trends and the impacts of climate change on ecosystems.

Increased water use, coupled with long-term drought conditions and a warming climate, have resulted in historic low water levels in saline lakes ecosystems across the Great Basin in California, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah.

Changes in regional water management practices have reduced freshwater inflow to the Salton Sea, changing what was once a popular vacation destination to a shrinking hypersaline lake.  As the lake bed dries to a dusty playa, air, water, and wildlife managers will depend on careful monitoring and research to inform critical decisions affecting the future of the lake and surrounding communit

The San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is one of the largest estuaries in the United States. It provides water to more than 25 million California residents, farmlands, and key fish and wildlife habitats. To help ensure the health of this crucial estuary, the U.S. Geological Survey provides science essential to address issues of importance to our partners and the public.

USGS scientists use innovative, state-of-the-art methods to understand the Earth. Our science is used by Federal, Tribal, State, and local agencies to solve increasingly complex problems facing resource managers. This site explores real-life examples of USGS science applied to societal challenges

The USGS has developed a national inventory of significant topographic changes based on seamless multitemporal elevation data and land cover data. The National Elevation Dataset (NED) and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data form a unique pair of seamless elevation datasets that can be used to detect and analyze 20th century topographic surface changes in the United States.

Most of the world’s earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, and volcanic eruptions are caused by the continuous motions of the many tectonic plates that make up the Earth’s outer shell. The most powerful of these natural hazards occur in subduction zones, where two plates collide and one is thrust beneath another.

Long Island Sound (LIS) is a major estuary bordered by the New York City metropolitan area and the densely developed coastal regions of Connecticut and Long Island, New York. The USGS conducts scientific investigations and data collection in LIS and its watershed to improve understanding of LIS ecosystems and natural resources and inform management actions by stakeholders in the region.

Water Science School

Welcome to the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Water Science School. We offer information on many aspects of water, along with pictures, data, maps, and an interactive center where you can give opinions and test your water knowledge.

USGS Fire Science is fundamental to understanding the causes, consequences, and benefits of wildfire and helps prevent and manage larger, catastrophic events. USGS scientists possess diverse technical capabilities that are used to address a variety of problems posed by wildland fires.