Publications

Remote sensing-derived evapotranspiration (RSET) products capture the spatiotemporal variations of evapotranspiration (ET) from field to basin scales with unprecedented details. However, their accuracy varies across RSET estimation methods and diverse hydroclimate regions. While ET modeling efforts to account for biophysical processes and controlling parameters have made good progress in...

AActual evapotranspiration (ETa) is an essential climate variable that can be used for drought monitoring and water availability assessment because of its close connection with vegetation, soil moisture, and the water cycle. An operational ETa using the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and global weather datasets was developed through the Simplified Surface Energy...

Executive Summary The U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Calibration and Validation (Cal/Val) Center of Excellence focuses on improving the accuracy, precision, calibration, and product quality of remote-sensing data, leveraging years of multiscale optical system geometric and radiometric calibration and characterization experience. The Earth Resources...

Key to the success of spaceborne missions is understanding snowmelt in our warming climate, as this has implications for nearly 2 billion people. An obstacle is that surface reflectance products over snow show an erroneous hook with decreases in the visible wavelengths, causing per-band and broadband reflectance errors of up to 33 % and 11 %, respectively. This hook is sometimes mistaken...

Introduction: Rangeland ponds are vital to the livelihoods of pastoral and agropastoral communities in Africa, providing an important source of water for livestock. However, sparse instrumentation across much of Africa makes it extremely challenging to monitor surface water availability in these areas. Model estimates of surface water, for example, as used by the Famine Early Warning...

The geometric transformation of remotely sensed imagery from one map projection to another necessitates a data resampling operation which alters the recorded values. The global Landsat archive is made available in the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection system which preserves geographic shape across small area but introduces small errors in distance and area. As remote sensing...

A geometric accuracy assessment of lidar data collected in eastern Iowa in 2019 as part of the 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) was conducted. The assessment involved evaluating interswath accuracy, same surface precision, point density, absolute accuracy, and consistency with adjacent 3DEP datasets. The results demonstrate that the data meet or exceed the quality level 2 specifications...

Landsat Analysis Ready Data (ARD)-based time-series present challenges in monitoring surface urban heat islands (SUHI) due to rapid changes in land surface temperature (LST) compared to cloud-free satellite observations. This research investigates the use of a spatiotemporal gap-filling model as a feasible and cost-effective solution to produce Landsat time-series LST products with both...

Executive Summary This report documents the system characterization of the Indian Space Research Organisation Resourcesat-2A Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) and is part of a series of system characterization reports produced by the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val Center of Excellence. These reports describe the methodology and procedures used for...

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) faces severe agricultural data scarcity amidst high food insecurity and a large agricultural yield gap, making crop production data crucial for understanding and enhancing food systems. To address this gap, HarvestStat Africa presents the largest compilation of open-access subnational crop statistics and time-series across SSA. Based on agricultural statistics...

Executive Summary This report addresses system characterization of the Indian Space Research Organisation Resourcesat-2A Linear Imaging Self Scanning-3 sensor and is part of a series of system characterization reports produced and delivered by the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val Center of Excellence since 2021. These reports present and detail the...

Users of Earth remotely sensed optical imagery are increasingly demanding a surface reflectance or surface temperature product instead of the top-of-atmosphere products that have been produced historically. Validating the accuracy of surface products remains a difficult task since it involves assessment across a range of atmospheric profiles, as well as many different land surface types...