Environmental Data
Datasets, viewers, and tools for climate, landcover, wildfire, drought, water, and life.
Good Starting Points
USGS Science Data Catalog
Search all USGS data. Search capabilities are limited for very large datasets.
USGS Geospatial Data Sources
Base layers (elevation, orthoimagery, hydrography, geographic names, boundaries, transportation, & structures), satellite imagery, digital topographic maps, bathymetry, geology, hazards, and bulk data.
Global Ecosystems
Currently includes the U.S., South America, and Africa. All data is available through both a data viewer and prepackaged downloadable zip files.
Climate Change with CO2
Geo CO2 Sequestration Interactive Web Map
Includes investigated basins, assessed areas, stratigraphic columns, and well density information. Data is in downloadable Excel spreadsheets.
National Climate Change Viewer
Maps showing historical and future climate projections from 30 of the downscaled models for RCP emission scenarios 4.5 and 8.5.
The USGS Climate Geo Data Portal
Downscaled climate projections and other data resources that are otherwise difficult to access and manipulate.
Wildfires
Landfire
Over 20 national geospatial layers (e.g. vegetation, fuel, disturbance), databases, and ecological models for the U.S. and insular areas.
USGS Fire Danger Forecast
Dynamic map interface that uses satellite data to assess live fuel conditions for estimating fire danger.
Nationa Fire Situational Awareness Mapping Site
Near real-time fire perimeter data.
Satellite Imagery
EarthExplorer
Use this if you need a robust search engine and access to the separate bands that make up a satellite image.
LandsatLook
Use this if you just want a color-corrected satellite image in jpg format for simple visual interpretation.
What are the best spectral bands to use for my study?
Land Cover & Styles
Web Soil Survey
Soil data and information produced by the USDA’s National Cooperative Soil Survey.
Geochemical Maps for U.S. Soils
A low-density survey of soils. Download maps in KML, PDF, or TIFF format. Raw data is in Excel spreadsheets.
National Land Cover Database
With the latest release, NLCD now includes map products characterizing land cover and land cover change across nine epochs from 2001 to 2021.
Plants & Animals
Gap Analysis Program (GAP) Viewers
Data sets for range and distribution of over 2000 species; Protected Area Database of the U.S.; and Land Cover.
U.S. National Vegetation Classification
Partnership with USGS Gap Analysis Program (GAP).
Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GFBI)
National species occurrence data.
National Amphibian Atlas
Maps depicting historic ranges for amphibian species in the U.S. Might not reflect current distributions.
Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative
Large database of information including GIS data.
USA National Phenology Network—Nature's Notebook
Citizen science observations of seasonal changes.
ITIS (Integrated Taxonomic Information System)
Taxonomic information on plants, animals, fungi, and microbes of North America and the world.
Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database
Spatially referenced biogeographic data. Query by state, county, drainage, HUC, or custom search.
Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab
Bee surveys, identification tools, and adaptive management.
Water
National Hydrography Dataset
Digital vector datasets for GIS. Includes Watershed Boundary Dataset.
National Water Information System (NWIS)