Christopher J Crawford, Ph.D.
Dr. Christopher (Chris) J. Crawford is a Research Physical Scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in the New Missions Branch.
Dr. Christopher (Chris) J. Crawford’s research and development focuses on the calibration, acquisition, processing, analysis, validation, and interpretation of multi-source ground, airborne, and spaceborne Earth remote sensing measurements using an array of scientific instrumentation. Dr. Crawford co-investigates with others on basic and applied research science in the fields of climate, cryosphere, atmosphere, hydrology, and aquatics where remote sensing measurements are a core observable.
Dr. Crawford serves as both the USGS’s operational Landsat 1-9 Project Scientist and Landsat Next Phase A formulation Project Scientist. He is the Principal Scientist for the USGS Landsat Science Research and Development Project, oversees Landsat’s Earth-looking science data acquisition strategy, and co-chaired the USGS/NASA 2018-2023 Landsat Science Team.
Dr. Crawford joined the USGS in 2019 after coming to EROS in 2017 to work on Landsat project science. From 2013-2017, Dr. Crawford worked at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center as a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow and as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate with the University of Maryland’s Earth Systems Science Interdisciplinary Center. From 2010-2013, he was a NASA Earth and Space Sciences Fellow at the University of Minnesota while conducting his Ph.D. studies.
Professional Experience
2022 – present, USGS Landsat Next Phase A Formulation Project Scientist, EROS Center
2019– present, USGS Landsat Data Acquisition Manager, EROS Center
2019 – present, USGS Landsat Science Research and Development Project Principal Scientist, EROS Center
2019 – present, USGS Landsat 1-9 Project Scientist, EROS Center
2019 – present, USGS Research Physical Scientist, EROS Center
2020 – 2023, USGS EROS-Imaging Spectroscopy Project Principal Scientist, EROS Center
2019 – 2023, USGS/NASA 2018-2023 Landsat Science Team Co-Chair, EROS Center
Education and Certifications
2013 Ph.D. (Geography), Department of Geography, University of Minnesota
2007 M.S. (Geography), Department of Geography, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)
2004 B.S. Cum Laude (Forestry), Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and Wildlife, University of Tennessee-Knoxville
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 19
Can Landsat 7 preserve its science capability with a drifting orbit?
Since 2017, the orbit of Landsat 7 has drifted outside its nominal mission requirement toward an earlier acquisition time because of limited onboard fuel resources. This makes quantitative analyses from Landsat 7 data potentially unreliable for many scientific studies. To comprehensively understand the effect of ongoing (2018–2020) orbit drift on Landsat 7 data, we compared surface reflectance and
Authors
Shirley Qiu, Zhe Zhu, Rong Shang, Christopher J. Crawford
Landsat 9: Ready for Launch
Landsat 9 is in its final preparations for launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base on 16 September 2021. It has completed its environmental testing at Northrop Grumman Space (NGSP) in Gilbert, Arizona and has been transported to its California launch site. It will be launched into a 705 km orbit replacing Landsat 7 to provide 8-day Earth land mass coverage in concert with Landsat 8. Landsat 8 carr
Authors
Brian Markham, Cody Anderson, Michael J. Choate, Christopher J. Crawford, Del Jenstrom, Jeff Masek, Jeffery Pedelty, Brian Sauer, Kurtis Thome
An update on the 2020 activities of the Landsat Science Team
No abstract available.
Authors
Jeffery Masek, Christopher J. Crawford
Landsat 9: Empowering open science and applications through continuity
The history of Earth observation from space is well reflected through the Landsat program. With data collection beginning with Landsat-1 in 1972, the program has evolved technical capabilities while maintaining continuity of land observations. In so doing, Landsat has provided a critical reference for assessing long-term changes to Earth's land environment due to both natural and human forcing. Po
Authors
Jeffery G. Masek, Michael A. Wulder, Brian Markham, Joel McCorkel, Christopher J. Crawford, James C. Storey, Del Jenstrom
Dynamics, variability, and change in seasonal precipitation reconstructions for North America
Cool and warm season precipitation totals have been reconstructed on a gridded basis for North America using 439 tree-ring chronologies correlated with December-April totals and 547 different chronologies correlated with May-July totals. These discrete seasonal predictor chronologies are not significantly correlated with the alternate season and the reconstructions calibrate at least 40% of the v
Authors
David W. Stahle, Edward R Cook, Dorian J Burnette, Max C.A. Torbenson, Ian M Howard, Daniel Griffin, Jose Villanueva Diaz, Benjamin I. Cook, Park A. Williams, Emma Watson, David J. Sauchyn, Neil Pederson, Connie A. Woodhouse, Gregory T. Pederson, David M. Meko, Bethany Coulthard, Christopher J. Crawford
The U. S. Geological Survey’s approach to analysis ready data
Analysis Ready Data (ARD) is a recent concept in Earth observing remote sensing which encompasses many different initiatives by individual imagery providers and collaborative international organizations working towards easing/minimizing data preprocessing required by users. This allows users to spend more time on analysis and less time on downloading, formatting, and ingesting. The U. S. Geologica
Authors
Cody Anderson, Steven Labahn, Dennis Helder, Gregory L. Stensaas, Christopher Engebretson, Christopher J. Crawford, Calli B. Jenkerson, Christopher Barnes
Radiometric calibration of a non-imaging airborne spectrometer to measure the Greenland ice sheet surface
Methods to radiometrically calibrate a non-imaging airborne visible-to-shortwave infrared (VSWIR) spectrometer to measure the Greenland ice sheet surface are presented. Airborne VSWIR measurement performance for bright Greenland ice and dark bare rock/soil targets is compared against the MODerate resolution atmospheric TRANsmission (MODTRAN®) radiative transfer code (version 6.0), and a coincident
Authors
Christopher J. Crawford, Jeannette van den Bosch, Kelly M. Brunt, Milton G. Hom, John W. Cooper, David J. Harding, James J. Butler, Philip W. Dabney, Thomas A. Neumann, Craig S. Cleckner, Thorsten Markus
Non-USGS Publications**
Wulder, M.A., T.R. Loveland, D.P. Roy, C.J. Crawford, J.G. Masek, C.E. Woodcock, R.G. Allen, M.C. Anderson, A.S. Belward, W.B. Cohen, J. Dwyer, A. Erb, F. Gao, P. Griffiths, D. Helder, T. Hermosilla, J.D. Hipple, P. Hostert, M.J. Hughes, J. Huntington, D.M. Johnson, R. Kennedy, A. Kilic, Z. Li, L. Lymburner, J. McCorkel, N. Pahlevan, T.A. Scambos, C. Schaaf, J.R. Schott, Y. Sheng, J. Storey, E. Vermote, J., Vogelmann, J.C. White, R.H. Wynne, and Z. Zhu. (2019). Current status of Landsat program, science, and applications. Remote Sensing of Environment, 225:127-147. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2019.02.015.
Crawford, C.J., T.R. Loveland, J.G. Masek, and M.A. Wulder. (2018). An overview of USGS-NASA Landsat Science Team activities during 2018. The Earth Observer 30(5):19-26.
Crawford, C.J., T.R. Loveland, M.A. Wulder, and J.R. Irons. (2018). Landsat Science Team 2017 summer meeting summary. The Earth Observer 30(1):21-25.
Brucker, L, C. Hiemstra, H.P. Marshall, K. Elder, R. De Roo, M. Mousavi, F. Bliven, W. Peterson, J. Deems, P. Gadomski, A. Gelvin, L. Spaete, T. Barnhart, T. Brandt, J Burkhart, C. Crawford, T. Datta. H. Erikstrod, N. Glenn, K. Hale, B. Holben, P. Houser, K. Jennings, R. Kelly, J. Kraft, A. Langlois, D. McGrath, C. Merriman, N. Molotch, A. Nolin, C. Polashenski, M. Raleigh, K. Rittger, C. Rodriguez, A. Roy, M. Skiles, E. Small, M. Tedesco, C. Tennant, A. Thompson, L. Tian, Z. Uhlmann, R. Webb, and M. Wingo. (2017). A first overview of SnowEx ground-based remote sensing activities during the winter 2016-2017. Proceedings from the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) 2017:1391-1394. doi:10.1109/IGARSS.2017.8127223.
Kim, E, C. Gatebe, D. Hall, J. Newlin, A. Misakonis, K. Elder, H.P. Marshall, C. Hiemstra, L. Brucker, E. De Marco, C. Crawford, D.H Kang, and J. Entin. (2017). NASA’s SnowEx campaign: observing seasonal snow in a forested environment. Proceedings from the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) 2017:1388-1390. doi:10.1109/IGARSS.2017.8127222.
Hall, D.K., C.C. Chickadel, C.J. Crawford, E.L. DeMarco, D.E. Jennings, M.D. Jhabvala, E.J. Kim, J.D. Lundquist, and A.W. Lunsford. (2017). The infrared sensor suite for SnowEx 2017. Proceedings from the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) 2017:1406-1408. doi: 10.1109/IGARSS.2017.8127228.
Crawford, C.J., P.K. Campbell, E.M. Middleton, M.G. Hom, K.F. Huemmerich, and D.R. Landis. (2016). Retrieval of Lake Superior ice surfaces using EO-1 Hyperion, Landsat ETM+, and Landsat OLI. Proceedings from the 23rd IAHR International Symposium on Ice 5821:1-15.
Hall, D.K., C.J. Crawford, N.E. DiGirolamo, G.A. Riggs, and J.L. Foster. (2015). Detection of earlier snowmelt in the Wind River Range, Wyoming, using Landsat imagery, 1972-2013. Remote Sensing of Environment, 162:45-54. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2015.01.032.
Crawford, C.J., D. Griffin, and K.F. Kipfmueller. (2015). Capturing season specific precipitation signals in the northern Rocky Mountains, USA using earlywood and latewood tree rings. Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, 120. doi: 10.1002/2014JG002740.
Crawford, C.J. (2015). MODIS Terra Collection 6 fractional snow cover validation in mountainous terrain during spring snowmelt using Landsat TM and ETM+. Hydrological Processes, 29:128-138. doi: 10.1002/hyp.10134.
Klink, K., J.J. Wiersma, C.J. Crawford, D.D. Stuthman. (2014). Impacts of temperature and precipitation variability in the Northern Plains of the United States and Canada on the productivity of spring barely and oat. International Journal of Climatology, 34:2805-2818. doi: 10.1002/joc.3877.
Crawford, C.J. (2013). Evidence for spring mountain snowpack retreat from a Landsat-derived snow cover climate data record. The Cryosphere Discussion 7:2089-2117. DOI:10.5194/tcd-7- 2089-2013.
Crawford, C.J., S.M. Manson, M.E. Bauer, and D.K. Hall. (2013). Multitemporal snow cover mapping in mountainous terrain for Landsat climate data record development. Remote Sensing of Environment, 135:224-235. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2013.04.004.
Crawford, C.J. (2012). Do high-elevation northern red oak tree rings share a common climate-driven growth signal? Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 44:26-35. doi: 10.1657/1938- 4246-44.1.26.
Copenheaver, C.A., C.J. Crawford, and T.M. Ferrer. (2011). Age-dependent climate responses identified in the growth of white oak (Quercus alba). Trees, Structure, and Function. doi: 10.1007/s00468-011-0541-2.
Crawford, C.J. and L.M. Kennedy. (2009). Spatial and temporal patterns of tree encroachment into a Southern Appalachian grass/heath bald. Natural Areas Journal, 29(4):500-508.
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Filter Total Items: 15
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 19
Can Landsat 7 preserve its science capability with a drifting orbit?
Since 2017, the orbit of Landsat 7 has drifted outside its nominal mission requirement toward an earlier acquisition time because of limited onboard fuel resources. This makes quantitative analyses from Landsat 7 data potentially unreliable for many scientific studies. To comprehensively understand the effect of ongoing (2018–2020) orbit drift on Landsat 7 data, we compared surface reflectance and
Authors
Shirley Qiu, Zhe Zhu, Rong Shang, Christopher J. Crawford
Landsat 9: Ready for Launch
Landsat 9 is in its final preparations for launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base on 16 September 2021. It has completed its environmental testing at Northrop Grumman Space (NGSP) in Gilbert, Arizona and has been transported to its California launch site. It will be launched into a 705 km orbit replacing Landsat 7 to provide 8-day Earth land mass coverage in concert with Landsat 8. Landsat 8 carr
Authors
Brian Markham, Cody Anderson, Michael J. Choate, Christopher J. Crawford, Del Jenstrom, Jeff Masek, Jeffery Pedelty, Brian Sauer, Kurtis Thome
An update on the 2020 activities of the Landsat Science Team
No abstract available.
Authors
Jeffery Masek, Christopher J. Crawford
Landsat 9: Empowering open science and applications through continuity
The history of Earth observation from space is well reflected through the Landsat program. With data collection beginning with Landsat-1 in 1972, the program has evolved technical capabilities while maintaining continuity of land observations. In so doing, Landsat has provided a critical reference for assessing long-term changes to Earth's land environment due to both natural and human forcing. Po
Authors
Jeffery G. Masek, Michael A. Wulder, Brian Markham, Joel McCorkel, Christopher J. Crawford, James C. Storey, Del Jenstrom
Dynamics, variability, and change in seasonal precipitation reconstructions for North America
Cool and warm season precipitation totals have been reconstructed on a gridded basis for North America using 439 tree-ring chronologies correlated with December-April totals and 547 different chronologies correlated with May-July totals. These discrete seasonal predictor chronologies are not significantly correlated with the alternate season and the reconstructions calibrate at least 40% of the v
Authors
David W. Stahle, Edward R Cook, Dorian J Burnette, Max C.A. Torbenson, Ian M Howard, Daniel Griffin, Jose Villanueva Diaz, Benjamin I. Cook, Park A. Williams, Emma Watson, David J. Sauchyn, Neil Pederson, Connie A. Woodhouse, Gregory T. Pederson, David M. Meko, Bethany Coulthard, Christopher J. Crawford
The U. S. Geological Survey’s approach to analysis ready data
Analysis Ready Data (ARD) is a recent concept in Earth observing remote sensing which encompasses many different initiatives by individual imagery providers and collaborative international organizations working towards easing/minimizing data preprocessing required by users. This allows users to spend more time on analysis and less time on downloading, formatting, and ingesting. The U. S. Geologica
Authors
Cody Anderson, Steven Labahn, Dennis Helder, Gregory L. Stensaas, Christopher Engebretson, Christopher J. Crawford, Calli B. Jenkerson, Christopher Barnes
Radiometric calibration of a non-imaging airborne spectrometer to measure the Greenland ice sheet surface
Methods to radiometrically calibrate a non-imaging airborne visible-to-shortwave infrared (VSWIR) spectrometer to measure the Greenland ice sheet surface are presented. Airborne VSWIR measurement performance for bright Greenland ice and dark bare rock/soil targets is compared against the MODerate resolution atmospheric TRANsmission (MODTRAN®) radiative transfer code (version 6.0), and a coincident
Authors
Christopher J. Crawford, Jeannette van den Bosch, Kelly M. Brunt, Milton G. Hom, John W. Cooper, David J. Harding, James J. Butler, Philip W. Dabney, Thomas A. Neumann, Craig S. Cleckner, Thorsten Markus
Non-USGS Publications**
Wulder, M.A., T.R. Loveland, D.P. Roy, C.J. Crawford, J.G. Masek, C.E. Woodcock, R.G. Allen, M.C. Anderson, A.S. Belward, W.B. Cohen, J. Dwyer, A. Erb, F. Gao, P. Griffiths, D. Helder, T. Hermosilla, J.D. Hipple, P. Hostert, M.J. Hughes, J. Huntington, D.M. Johnson, R. Kennedy, A. Kilic, Z. Li, L. Lymburner, J. McCorkel, N. Pahlevan, T.A. Scambos, C. Schaaf, J.R. Schott, Y. Sheng, J. Storey, E. Vermote, J., Vogelmann, J.C. White, R.H. Wynne, and Z. Zhu. (2019). Current status of Landsat program, science, and applications. Remote Sensing of Environment, 225:127-147. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2019.02.015.
Crawford, C.J., T.R. Loveland, J.G. Masek, and M.A. Wulder. (2018). An overview of USGS-NASA Landsat Science Team activities during 2018. The Earth Observer 30(5):19-26.
Crawford, C.J., T.R. Loveland, M.A. Wulder, and J.R. Irons. (2018). Landsat Science Team 2017 summer meeting summary. The Earth Observer 30(1):21-25.
Brucker, L, C. Hiemstra, H.P. Marshall, K. Elder, R. De Roo, M. Mousavi, F. Bliven, W. Peterson, J. Deems, P. Gadomski, A. Gelvin, L. Spaete, T. Barnhart, T. Brandt, J Burkhart, C. Crawford, T. Datta. H. Erikstrod, N. Glenn, K. Hale, B. Holben, P. Houser, K. Jennings, R. Kelly, J. Kraft, A. Langlois, D. McGrath, C. Merriman, N. Molotch, A. Nolin, C. Polashenski, M. Raleigh, K. Rittger, C. Rodriguez, A. Roy, M. Skiles, E. Small, M. Tedesco, C. Tennant, A. Thompson, L. Tian, Z. Uhlmann, R. Webb, and M. Wingo. (2017). A first overview of SnowEx ground-based remote sensing activities during the winter 2016-2017. Proceedings from the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) 2017:1391-1394. doi:10.1109/IGARSS.2017.8127223.
Kim, E, C. Gatebe, D. Hall, J. Newlin, A. Misakonis, K. Elder, H.P. Marshall, C. Hiemstra, L. Brucker, E. De Marco, C. Crawford, D.H Kang, and J. Entin. (2017). NASA’s SnowEx campaign: observing seasonal snow in a forested environment. Proceedings from the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) 2017:1388-1390. doi:10.1109/IGARSS.2017.8127222.
Hall, D.K., C.C. Chickadel, C.J. Crawford, E.L. DeMarco, D.E. Jennings, M.D. Jhabvala, E.J. Kim, J.D. Lundquist, and A.W. Lunsford. (2017). The infrared sensor suite for SnowEx 2017. Proceedings from the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) 2017:1406-1408. doi: 10.1109/IGARSS.2017.8127228.
Crawford, C.J., P.K. Campbell, E.M. Middleton, M.G. Hom, K.F. Huemmerich, and D.R. Landis. (2016). Retrieval of Lake Superior ice surfaces using EO-1 Hyperion, Landsat ETM+, and Landsat OLI. Proceedings from the 23rd IAHR International Symposium on Ice 5821:1-15.
Hall, D.K., C.J. Crawford, N.E. DiGirolamo, G.A. Riggs, and J.L. Foster. (2015). Detection of earlier snowmelt in the Wind River Range, Wyoming, using Landsat imagery, 1972-2013. Remote Sensing of Environment, 162:45-54. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2015.01.032.
Crawford, C.J., D. Griffin, and K.F. Kipfmueller. (2015). Capturing season specific precipitation signals in the northern Rocky Mountains, USA using earlywood and latewood tree rings. Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, 120. doi: 10.1002/2014JG002740.
Crawford, C.J. (2015). MODIS Terra Collection 6 fractional snow cover validation in mountainous terrain during spring snowmelt using Landsat TM and ETM+. Hydrological Processes, 29:128-138. doi: 10.1002/hyp.10134.
Klink, K., J.J. Wiersma, C.J. Crawford, D.D. Stuthman. (2014). Impacts of temperature and precipitation variability in the Northern Plains of the United States and Canada on the productivity of spring barely and oat. International Journal of Climatology, 34:2805-2818. doi: 10.1002/joc.3877.
Crawford, C.J. (2013). Evidence for spring mountain snowpack retreat from a Landsat-derived snow cover climate data record. The Cryosphere Discussion 7:2089-2117. DOI:10.5194/tcd-7- 2089-2013.
Crawford, C.J., S.M. Manson, M.E. Bauer, and D.K. Hall. (2013). Multitemporal snow cover mapping in mountainous terrain for Landsat climate data record development. Remote Sensing of Environment, 135:224-235. doi: 10.1016/j.rse.2013.04.004.
Crawford, C.J. (2012). Do high-elevation northern red oak tree rings share a common climate-driven growth signal? Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 44:26-35. doi: 10.1657/1938- 4246-44.1.26.
Copenheaver, C.A., C.J. Crawford, and T.M. Ferrer. (2011). Age-dependent climate responses identified in the growth of white oak (Quercus alba). Trees, Structure, and Function. doi: 10.1007/s00468-011-0541-2.
Crawford, C.J. and L.M. Kennedy. (2009). Spatial and temporal patterns of tree encroachment into a Southern Appalachian grass/heath bald. Natural Areas Journal, 29(4):500-508.
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Filter Total Items: 15