Publications

Executive Summary This report addresses system characterization of the Indian Space Research Organisation Resourcesat-2 Linear Imaging Self Scanning-3 (LISS–3) sensor and is part of a series of system characterization reports produced and delivered by the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val Center of Excellence in 2021. These reports present and detail...

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Satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) based upon an empirical band ratio method is a cost-effective means for mapping nearshore bathymetry in coastal areas vulnerable to natural hazards. This is particularly important for the low-lying coastal community of Unalakleet, Alaska, that has been negatively affected not only by flooding, storm surge, and historically strong storms but also by high...

Biodiversity projections with uncertainty estimates under different climate, land-use, and policy scenarios are essential to setting and achieving international targets to mitigate biodiversity loss. Evaluating and improving biodiversity predictions to better inform policy decisions remains a central conservation goal and challenge. A comprehensive strategy to evaluate and reduce...

The development and online access to an operational global actual evapotranspiration (ETa) is described. The global ETa is generated using the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model with inputs from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) land surface temperature and gridded weather datasets. Global and regional ETa, as well as anomaly graphics and...

The efforts of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) to bring CEOS Analysis Ready Data for Land (CARD4L) products to countries and international organizations quickly and easily continues to receive important support from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). As part of its engagement with CARD4L, the USGS worked to address specific Threshold and Target Product Family...

In eastern Africa droughts can cause crop failure and lead to food insecurity. With increasing temperatures, there is an a priori assumption that droughts are becoming more severe. However, the link between droughts and climate change is not sufficiently understood. Here we investigate trends in long-term agricultural drought and the influence of increasing temperatures and precipitation...

Understanding the key mechanisms that control northern treelines is important to accurately predict biome shifts and terrestrial feedbacks to climate. At a global scale, it has long been observed that elevational and latitudinal treelines occur at similar mean growing season air temperature (GSAT) isotherms, inspiring the growth limitation hypothesis (GLH) that cold GSAT limits...

Land-use land-cover change (LULCC) has become an important topic of research for the central United States because of the extensive conversion of the natural prairie into agricultural land, especially in the northern Great Plains. As a result, shifts in the natural climate (minimum/maximum temperature, precipitation, etc.) across the north-central United States have been observed, as...

Groundwater depletion is a major threat to agricultural and municipal water supply in California's Central Valley. Recent droughts during 2007–2009 and 2012–2016 exacerbated chronic groundwater depletion. However, it is unclear how much groundwater storage recovered from drought-related overdrafts during post-drought years, and how climatic conditions and water management affected...

The Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center is the largest facility of its kind within the U.S. Geological Survey. As both a science and data center, EROS serves a unique and critical role in shaping our understanding of a changing planet. EROS opened its doors in 1973 as a receiving station, data archive, and data distribution hub for the USGS Landsat series of Earth...

The Rio Grande flows approximately 670 miles from its headwaters in the San Juan Mountains of south-central Colorado to Fort Quitman, Texas, draining the Upper Rio Grande Basin (URGB) study area of 32,000 square miles that includes parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. Parts of the basin extend into the United Mexican States (hereafter “Mexico”), where the Rio Grande forms the...