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Challenges and Opportunities for an Off-World Mineral Resource Economy

Next Generation Stream Gaging

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National Innovation Center Seminar Series

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UAS Research Center

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eDNA Sampling

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Next Generation Volcano Monitoring

Next Generation Wildlife Tracking

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National Innovation Center

The USGS National Innovation Center (NIC) works with public, private, and non-profit partners in Silicon Valley and elsewhere to design, test, and bring into operation the next generation of technology and engineering tools to help solve the Nation's pressing earth science challenges.

UAS Research

UAS for measuring streamflow

We support a broad range of UAS research applications and are home to the UAS Research Center where our engineers work to design, build, and field test UAS flight systems for science support. 

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Space Economy Workshop

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Planning is underway for this NASA/USGS co-hosted event. Check back soon for more details!

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Publications

From data to interpretable models: Machine learning for soil moisture forecasting

Soil moisture is critical to agricultural business, ecosystem health, and certain hydrologically driven natural disasters. Monitoring data, though, is prone to instrumental noise, wide ranging extrema, and nonstationary response to rainfall where ground conditions change. Furthermore, existing soil moisture models generally forecast poorly for time periods greater than a few hours. To improve such
Authors
Aniruddha Basak, Kevin M. Schmidt, Ole Mengshoel
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, National Innovation Center

In situ enhancement and isotopic labeling of biogenic coalbed methane

Subsurface microbial (biogenic) methane production is an important part of the global carbon cycle that has resulted in natural gas accumulations in many coal beds worldwide. Laboratory studies suggest that complex carbon-containing nutrients (e.g., yeast or algae extract) can stimulate methane production, yet the effectiveness of these nutrients within coal beds is unknown. Here, we use downhole
Authors
Elliott Barnhart, Leslie F. Ruppert, Randy Heibert, Heidi J. Smith, Hannah Schweitzer, Arthur Clark, Edwin Weeks, William H. Orem, Matthew S. Varonka, George A. Platt, Jenna L. Shelton, Katherine J Davis, Robert Hyatt, Jennifer C. McIntosh, Kilian Ashley, Shuhei Ono, Anna M. Martini, Keith Hackley, Robin Gerlach, Lee Spangler, Adrienne Phillips, Mark Barry, Alfred B. Cunningham, Matthew W. Fields
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Water Resources Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, National Innovation Center, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Poor relationships between NEON Airborne Observation Platform data and field-based vegetation traits at a mesic grassland

Understanding spatial and temporal variation in plant traits is needed to accurately predict how communities and ecosystems will respond to global change. The National Observatory Ecological Network (NEON) Airborne Observation Platform (AOP) provides hyperspectral images and associated data products at numerous field sites at 1 m spatial resolution, potentially allowing high-resolution trait mappi
Authors
Stephanie Pau, Jesse Nippert, Ryan Slapikas, Daniel Mark Griffith, Seton Bachle, Brent Helliker, Rory O’Connor, William J. Riley, Christopher J. Still, Marissa Zaricor
By
National Innovation Center, Western Geographic Science Center
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Science

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Space Economy Workshop Series 2023

Technologies to Fill Observation & Capability Gaps for the Off-World Mineral Resource Economy NASA and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) are hosting an invitational workshop intended to inform the development of new technologies to detect and assess off-world mineral resources, as well as to identify alignments with advanced terrestrial applications. April 11, 2023 at NASA Ames, Moffett...
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Energy and Minerals Mission Area, Mineral Resources Program, National Innovation Center
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Space Economy Workshop Series 2023

Technologies to Fill Observation & Capability Gaps for the Off-World Mineral Resource Economy NASA and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) are hosting an invitational workshop intended to inform the development of new technologies to detect and assess off-world mineral resources, as well as to identify alignments with advanced terrestrial applications. April 11, 2023 at NASA Ames, Moffett...
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Photo of a hillside after a fire

Characterizing high-resolution soil burn severity, erosion risk, and recovery using Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS)

The western United States is experiencing severe wildfires whose observed impacts, including post-wildfire floods and debris flows, appear to be increasing over time.
By
California Water Science Center, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, National Innovation Center, Western Geographic Science Center
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Characterizing high-resolution soil burn severity, erosion risk, and recovery using Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS)

The western United States is experiencing severe wildfires whose observed impacts, including post-wildfire floods and debris flows, appear to be increasing over time.
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LoRa-cellular gateway with EnviSense data logger/transmitter

Monitoring Drought Conditions in the Upper Feather River Watershed

The Upper Feather River Watershed is one of California’s regions of highest precipitation. Its runoff provides the majority of water delivered by the State Water Project, an average 3.2 million-acre feet each year feeding into Lake Oroville.
By
California Water Science Center, National Innovation Center
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Monitoring Drought Conditions in the Upper Feather River Watershed

The Upper Feather River Watershed is one of California’s regions of highest precipitation. Its runoff provides the majority of water delivered by the State Water Project, an average 3.2 million-acre feet each year feeding into Lake Oroville.
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