Images

Dr Laura Norman receives the Outstand Alumnus Award from the University of Arizona.

Human-Built Natural Infrastructure in Dryland Streams (NIDS) - Lessons from the “20-Year Crew” #BetheBeaver

A photograph of the sun setting in a desert of the Southwest of the United States.

The DESIS and PRISMA Derived Spectral Library of Agricultural Crops in California was developed using 2020 DESIS and PRISMA data for almonds, corn, cotton, grapes, pistachios, rice, and tomatoes. For more details, see “New Generation Hyperspectral Sensors DESIS and PRISMA Provide Improved Agricultural Crop Classifications” (DOI: 10.14358/PERS.22-00039R2)

Map of Syr Darya River Basin in Central Asia for GHISA project highlighting farms and crop types.

When soil behaves like a liquid it can lose its ability to support structures. The soil can even flow down very gentle slopes, and erupt to the ground surface to form sand boils (“sand volcanoes”).

Study areas throughout the US in various agroecological zones. US study areas, named according to agroecological zones (AEZs) in which they are located. AEZs as defined by FAO (FAO, 2018). [Source: Aneece and Thenkabail, 2018].

At the University of Arizona's Water Resources Reasearch Center's 2024 Annual Conference, Alma Anides-Morales, a student trainee in the USGS Pathways Internship Program, stands in front of her award-winning poster.

Norman with graduate students from the Academic Department of Earth Sciences at the Autonomous University of Baja California Sur (UABCS) teaching high school students from El Sargento at the “Caminos Del Agua” Water Festival  (photo by Alfredo Martinez, March 11, 2024).

invest in our planet image for USGS Environmental Achievement Award 2024. Dr. Kristin Byrd was a member of the USGS Earth Day Team who received the USGS Environmental Achievement Award this year.  The team created the Invest in Our Planet USGS Earth Day 2023 Virtual Expo on @theCore.

A student chalkboard word cloud at the Caminos Del Agua Water Festival, Los Planes watershed, Baja California Sur, Mexico. (Víctor Sevilla Unda, Autonomous University of Baja California Sur)

Scientists monitoring a shallow groundwater well in Los Planes watershed, Baja California Sur, Mexico. (Laura Norman, USGS)

Figure 1. Location Map of Rancho Ancon study site in Baja California Sur, Mexico.

Satellite image showing south San Francisco Bay with multicolored salt ponds, salt marshes, and dense urban development.

Satellite image of the Gulf of California, showing the mouth of the Colorado River surrounded by an arid landscape.

Satellite image of a bay surrounded by development including agriculture and residential properties, showing a sediment plume associated with a river.

We are developing multi-scale methods to capture the phenology of cheatgrass with harmonized Landsat and Sentinel satellite imagery, high resolution Planet imagery, and experimenting with centimeter-scale uncrewed areal systems (UAS) multispectral imagery.

We are developing multi-scale methods to capture the phenology of cheatgrass with harmonized Landsat and Sentinel satellite imagery, high resolution Planet imagery, and experimenting with centimeter-scale uncrewed areal systems (UAS) multispectral imagery.

Exotic annual grasses such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) have heavily invaded portions of the western United States, rapidly degrading habitats and increasing wildfire risk. 

Exotic annual grasses such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) have heavily invaded portions of the western United States, rapidly degrading habitats and increasing wildfire risk.

Exotic annual grasses such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) have heavily invaded portions of the western United States, rapidly degrading habitats and increasing wildfire risk.