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!
Remote Sensing and Dryland Management
Remote Sensing and Dryland Management
With the use of remote sensing and spatial analysis, WGSC scientists study dryland vegetation and soils to determine disturbances and help manage recovery.
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
The science that transformed a dry streambed into an oasis
The science that transformed a dry streambed into an oasis
Employee Shoutout: Laura Norman Receives the Geological Society of America's 2024 Farouk El-Baz Award for Desert Research
Employee Shoutout: Laura Norman Receives the Geological Society of America's 2024 Farouk El-Baz Award for Desert Research
Human-Built Natural Infrastructure in Dryland Streams (NIDS) - Lessons from the “20-Year Crew” #BetheBeaver
Human-Built Natural Infrastructure in Dryland Streams (NIDS) - Lessons from the “20-Year Crew” #BetheBeaver
Publications
U.S. Geological Survey climate science plan—Future research directions
Executive Summary Climate is the primary driver of environmental change and is a key consideration in defining science priorities conducted across all mission areas in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Recognizing the importance of climate change to its future research agenda, the USGS’s Climate Science Steering Committee requested the development of a Climate Science Plan to identify future rese
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Energy Resources Program, Climate Adaptation Science Centers, Volcano Hazards Program, Alaska Science Center, California Water Science Center, Geology, Energy & Minerals Science Center, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Volcano Science Center, Western Geographic Science Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
Will there be water? Climate change, housing needs, and future water demand in California
Climate change in California is expected to alter future water availability, impacting water supplies needed to support future housing growth and agriculture demand. In groundwater-dependent regions like California's Central Coast, new land-use related water demand and decreasing recharge is already stressing depleted groundwater basins. We developed a spatially explicit state-and-transition simul
An ensemble mean method for remote sensing of actual evapotranspiration to estimate water budget response across a restoration landscape
Estimates of actual evapotranspiration (ETa) are valuable for effective monitoring and management of water resources. In areas that lack ground-based monitoring networks, remote sensing allows for accurate and consistent estimates of ETa across a broad scale—though each algorithm has limitations (i.e., ground-based validation, temporal consistency, spatial resolution). We developed an ensemble mea
Science
Young and Young at Heart
Young and Young-at-Heart is an early-career group based at Moffett Field, CA.
Impacts of Anthropogenic Land Cover Changes on Wildlife Bioenergetics and Landscape Connectivity
In order to maintain viable populations, wildlife require not only contiguous habitat but also the bodily ability to move through the landscape. The spatial expansion of human development can block or slow the movement of wildlife.
Global Crop Water Productivity and Savings through waterSMART (GCWP)
The waterSMART (Sustain and Manage America’s Resources for Tomorrow) project places technical information and tools in the hands of stakeholders that allow them to answer pertinent questions regarding water availability. Two goals of waterSMART are to 1) establish water availability and its use based on an understanding of the past and present water users and to 2) project water availability and...