Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

As sea levels rise around the planet, as storm surges threaten islands and coastal communities, decision makers face a lot of questions about how to protect their citizens and their landscapes.

In a world where observing Earth’s landscapes from space has become more common for government agencies and commercial ventures, there is a question currently getting a lot of attention: Is there a way to make images from all those different and varied systems usable with each other?

Evapotranspiration (ET) presents a difficult problem.

Evaporation from the Earth’s surface and transpiration from the leaves of plants accounts for about 60 percent of the water budget – a budget that has implications for agriculture and food security the world over.

The Communication & Outreach (C&O) team at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center is working on some quick ways to connect with students who are currently doing school from home.

About a year ago, scientist Bruce Pengra sat at his desk with a conundrum.

As part of the team working on the reference dataset for the USGS Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) initiative’s land cover mapping project, Pengra was staring at a single speck of satellite data, a nondescript blotch of color representing a 30-meter plot of ground in Washington state....

The USGS Land Change Monitoring, Assessment and Projection (LCMAP) team has released its reference dataset for the Conterminous U.S. (CONUS), an 25,000-point trove of land cover data that represents the culmination of nearly five years of intensive human...

Mayors, city councilors and county commissioners have a lot on their minds.

Questions of policing, budgeting, or public health gobble up time and attention week after week, leaving little room for assessing risk of potential dangers like wildfire – especially for the part-time leaders who make up the bulk of the nation’s local officials.

It’s not uncommon for young scientists doing remote sensing research these days to use what they call the “full Landsat record” in their studies—a time frame they often characterize as 1984 to present.

Coming from Reston, VA, to the rural landscape surrounding the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center near Sioux Falls, SD, has brought about some challenging transitions for Peter Doucette, the new Integrated Science and Applications Branch Chief at EROS.

Melanie Vanderhoof works in the realms of fire and water, studying how they change landscapes and influence the ecological rhythms of Nature.

The latest edition of the National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2016) for Alaska is now publicly available.