WGSC contributes to HayWired
The GFSAD30 project accomplished their goal!
Dryland Management
Aridland Water Harvesting
Cienega Ranch
Semi-desert Native Grassland Restoration
Semi-desert Native Grassland Restoration
Western Geographic Science Center
The WGSC is responsible for research and applications to understand coupled human-environmental systems in the face of land change and delivering pertinent information to decision makers on the vulnerability and resilience of these systems. WGSC scientists collaborate with partners to advance the goals of the USGS Core Science Systems and Ecosystems Mission Areas and their programs.
Dr. Prasad Thenkabail visits India in Scientist Exchange Program
Dr. Prasad Thenkabail visits India in Scientist Exchange Program
Congratulations to Dr. Prasad Thenkabail, Research Geographer at WGSC, who represented the Department of Interior at the NASA and Indian Space Research Organization Professional Engineer and Scientist Exchange Program. Congratulations Prasad!
Dr Laura Norman wins the Farouk El-Baz Award
Dr Laura Norman wins the Farouk El-Baz Award
Congratulations to Dr. Laura Norman, who won the Farouk El-Bak Award for desert research!
Projects and teams at WGSC
Projects and teams at WGSC
Just a few examples of WGSC projects and science teams.
- Hazards Vulnerability Team
- Global Food Security-Support Analysis Data at 30 m (GFSAD30)
- Hazards Societal Consequences and Risk Communication
- Land-Use and Climate Change Team (LUCC)
- Aridlands Water Harvest Study
- Applied Landscape Ecology and Remote Sensing
- Patterns in the Landscape – Analyses of Cause and Effect (PLACE)
News
Dr. Pardhasaradhi Teluguntla receives ESRI's Award for Best Scientific Paper in GIS -1st Place
Dr. Pardhasaradhi Teluguntla receives ESRI's Award for Best Scientific Paper in GIS -1st Place
Earth Science Matters - Vol. 21 | Issue 1
Earth Science Matters - Vol. 21 | Issue 1
WGSC cloud-based tidal marsh biomass mapping tool
WGSC cloud-based tidal marsh biomass mapping tool
Publications
Los Planes watershed vegetation monitoring: Standard operating procedures Los Planes watershed vegetation monitoring: Standard operating procedures
This is a description of survey procedures for short term vegetation monitoring at Natural Infrastructure in Dryland Stream (NIDS) structure sites and control sites a ranch in the Los Planes, La Paz, Baja California Sur. This study design was modified from USGS Short Term Vegetation Response Study (Wilson et al. 2021) with the goal to quantify changes in species abundance/cover...
Initial condition uncertainty exerts a large and persistent influence on model simulations of ecosystem carbon dynamics in California Initial condition uncertainty exerts a large and persistent influence on model simulations of ecosystem carbon dynamics in California
Uncertainties in terrestrial ecosystem models limit their predictive power. Efforts to reduce projection error have rarely focused on constraining uncertainty in the initial state of the ecosystem, however, despite evidence that matching model initial conditions to real-world observations reduces overall model bias. Here we use an integrated land change and carbon gain-loss model to...
Influence of modeling assumptions on pedestrian evacuation success for non-eruptive lahar hazards at Mount Rainier, Washington Influence of modeling assumptions on pedestrian evacuation success for non-eruptive lahar hazards at Mount Rainier, Washington
Previous efforts to characterize lahar threats posed to communities downstream of volcanoes have focused primarily on delineating hazard zones that lack information on lahar-arrival times and exposure estimates that implicitly treat threats to be the same regardless of distance from the volcano. Estimated lahar-arrival times, travel times for individuals to leave hazard zones, and...
Science
New Tools for Modern Land Management Decisions
In an era of rapid land use changes, it is imperative that land managers and policymakers have actionable and current information available for decision processes. In this work, we seek to meet these needs through new data products and decision support tools built on digital soil mapping, new vegetation cover maps, agency inventory and monitoring data sets, and cutting-edge analytical frameworks...
Las Moras Wash Restoration: Integrated Geomorphic Assessment, Modeling, Monitoring, and Adaptive Management
The Las Moras Wash, within the Santa Margarita Ranch, Altar Valley, AZ, exhibits channel incision, gully expansion, head‑cut migration, vegetation loss, and reduced hydrologic connectivity between upper watershed and floodplains.
Supporting energy and mineral development through successful reclamation
Federal lands of the US contain important reserves of oil, gas and other resources important for Unleashing American Energy (SO 3418). After development of these resources is complete, successfully reclaiming disturbed lands is a necessary step towards restoring wildlife habitat, forage production, and maintaining natural resources for future use. To improve reclamation outcomes on these lands and...