Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
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At the USGS EROS Center, we study land change and produce land change data products used by researchers, resource managers, and policy makers across the nation and around the world. We also operate the Landsat satellite program with NASA, and maintain the largest civilian collection of images of the Earth’s land surface in existence, including tens of millions of satellite images.
What's New at EROS?
Eyes on Earth is a podcast covering a range of topics on remote sensing, satellite operations, and the science of Earth observation. Watch for new episodes every two weeks.
Listen hereImage of the Week
If conditions on the ground are right, a snow pattern can reveal a storm's path with remarkable detail. Snowfall patterns in China and the Midwest are featured in our latest video.
Snowfall SidesNews
EROS Upgrades Fire Danger Forecast Mapping Tools
Tracking large fire potential in the past, present, and future through remotely sensed data just got a lot simpler.
The Fire Danger Forecast project from the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center near Sioux Falls, SD has updated its web viewer to allow users to more easily...
Looking into the Future: The Art and Science of Land Use Projections
Terry Sohl is fairly unique among U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) research physical scientists at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in that he spends less time looking at the past and present, and more time peering into the future.
EROS Fire Scientists Look at Potential Use of Lidar for Operational Burn Mapping
Fires that rage through forests, consuming vegetation on the ground and spreading into canopies, almost always leave important questions behind when they are done.
Like, what in fact burned? Where did it burn? How intense was the burn? And how far into the canopy did it reach?
Publications
Characterizing land surface phenology and exotic annual grasses in dryland ecosystems using Landsat and Sentinel-2 data in harmony
Invasive annual grasses, such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.), have proliferated in dryland ecosystems of the western United States, promoting increased fire activity and reduced biodiversity that can be detrimental to socio-environmental systems. Monitoring exotic annual grass cover and dynamics over large areas requires the use of remote...
Pastick, Neal; Dahal, Devendra; Wylie, Bruce K.; Parajuli, Sujan; Boyte, Stephen P.; Wu, Zhuoting Quantifying western U.S. rangelands as fractional components with landsat
Quantifying western U.S. rangelands as a series of fractional components with remote sensing provides a new way to understand these changing ecosystems. Nine rangeland ecosystem components, including percent shrub, sagebrush (Artemisia), big sagebrush, herbaceous, annual herbaceous, litter, and bare ground cover, along with sagebrush and shrub...
Rigge, Matthew B.; Homer, Collin G.; Cleeves, Lauren; Meyer, Debra K.; Bunde, Brett; Shi, Hua; Xian, George Z.; Bobo, Matthew R Evaluation of hydrologic impact of an irrigation curtailment program in the Upper Klamath Lake Basin using Landsat satellite data
Upper Klamath Lake (UKL) is the source of the Klamath river that flows through southern Oregon and northern California. The UKL basin is home to two endangered species and provides water for 81,000+ ha (200,000+ acres) of irrigation on the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) Klamath Project located downstream of the UKL basin. Irrigated...
Velpuri, Naga Manohar ; Senay, Gabriel; Schauer, Matthew ; Garcia, C. Amanda; Singh, Ramesh ; Friedrichs, MacKenzie; Bohms, Stefanie; Haynes, Jonathan V.; Conlon, Terrence D.