Geospatial Sciences and Technology
Geospatial Sciences and Technology
The Geospatial Sciences and Technology (GST) program focuses its efforts on providing technical and data development assistance to UMESC and its program partners. The GST teams specialize in; using geospatial (location referenced) and remote sensing technology to collect, create, and analyze geospatial data; and creating decision support tools that make geospatial data and technology more accessible to resource managers and researchers.
Filter Total Items: 37
Hydroacoustic mapping of habitat for threatened and endangered native mussels in the Upper Mississippi River
Understanding the distribution of threatened and endangered freshwater mussels is needed to conserve and restore populations. Sampling for native freshwater mussels typically involves taking quadrat samples in soft substrates and counting the number of mussels in a defined area. However, this methodology is unsuitable for detecting populations of the Spectaclecase mussel ( Margaritifera monodonta...
Develop Orthophotos and Mosaics from systemic color infrared aerial photography of the Upper Mississippi River System from 1975, 1989, 1994, and 2000
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program Long Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) element is implemented by the U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC), in cooperation with the five Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) states of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin. Color infrared aerial photography was...
Pre- and Post-Maintenance Aerial Imagery for Illinois River's Alton through Brandon Lock and Dams, 2019-2021
Most of the locks and dams on the Illinois River are scheduled for closure for repair during the summer of 2020. This project will use 4-band (natural color and color infrared) aerial imagery to document baseline aquatic vegetation and river conditions prior to the closures in the late summer of 2019, and once again in the later summer of 2021 after the locks are reopened.
2020 Systemic Land Cover/Land Use Aerial Imagery Acquisition, Image Interpretation, and Spatial Data Products for the Upper Mississippi River System
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) program, through its Long Term Resource Monitoring (UMRR-LTRM) element, is completing the 2020 decadal update of Land Cover/Land Use (LCU) for the entire Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). Dissemination of the 2020 LCU database will provide a fourth systemic dataset to compare to the 1989, 2000, and 2010/11...
Deep Learning for Automated Detection and Classification of Waterfowl, Seabirds, and other Wildlife from Digital Aerial Imagery
The U.S. Geological Survey Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center is developing deep learning algorithms and tools for the automatic detection, enumeration, classification, and annotation of seabirds and other marine wildlife from digital aerial imagery — advancing cutting-edge research in collaboration with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS...
Pilot project to acquire and process terrestrial lidar and multibeam bathymetry to determine feasibility as a tool for US Army Corps of Engineers Habitat Restoration Enhancement Project (HREP) embankment assessment - McGregor Island
This project is an adaptive management and monitoring plan that encompasses technical assistance to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers through University of Wisconsin – La Crosse (UW-L), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Upper Midwest Water Science Center and the USGS -Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (USGS -UMESC).
Region 3 US FWS Data Digitization
The U.S. Geological Survey – Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences center houses a state-of-the-art GIS lab that hires students through a cooperative agreement with the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse. The GIS lab provides technical and data management support for partners. Recently Region 3 of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) have required a large amount of data digitization and...
Forest Canopy Gap Dynamics: Quantifying Forest Gaps and Understanding Gap-level Forest Regeneration
Floodplain forest is a major and critical component of the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). The current and future condition of floodplain forest on the UMRS is receiving increased attention from managers as the forest appears to be declining and not regenerating. A primary concern is invasive reed canarygrass ( Phalaris arundinacea), Dutch elm disease ( Ophiostoma ulmi and O. novo-ulmi)...
Uncrewed Aircraft System Assets
This page describes the Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS), or drone, program at the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC), current to March 1, 2025. All equipment is purchased and maintained in accordance with the Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Aviation Services (OAS) policy. All pilots are certified through FAA Part 107 and DOI A-450 training and are required to fly every...
Benthic Mapping – Illinois River Benthic Mapping to Support Invasive Asian Carp Research
According to the 2016 Monitoring and Response Plan for Asian carp in the Mississippi River Basin, there is little to no information regarding Asian carp behavior and habitat use in invaded areas (1). There are some studies and anecdotal information showing that Asian carp are occurring in certain macrohabitats, specifically the main channel border during low summer flows and backwaters during...
Decision Support Systems
A Decision Support System (DSS) can be defined in many ways. The working definition the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) uses is, "A spatially based computer application or data that assists a researcher or manager in making decisions." This is quite a broad definition and it needs to be, as the possibilities for types of DSS are limited only by the user group and the developer...
Submersed Aquatic Vegetation Modeling Output Online
The ability to predict the distribution of submersed aquatic vegetation in the Upper Mississippi River on the basis of physical or chemical variables is useful to resource managers. Wildlife managers have a keen interest in advanced estimates of food quantity such as American wildcelery (Vallisneria americana) population status to give out more informed advisories to hunters before the fall...