The USGS Office of International Programs helps facilitate and coordinate USGS science with diverse partners, whether they be U.S. Federal agencies or foreign governments. Themes and strengths below highlight USGS science that supports resource management decisions around the world.
Ecosystems
Geospatial Data and Tools
USGS is the U.S. Department of the Interior’s sole earth and natural science agency. For nearly 150 years, the USGS has provided objective, high-quality, policy-relevant but unbiased science, data, and information about the natural hazards that threaten lives and livelihoods; the water, energy, minerals, and other natural resources we rely on; the integrity of our ecosystems and environment; and the impacts of climate and land-use change. Because geology, environmental hazards, natural resources, and effects of climate change ignore ethnic and geopolitical boundaries, USGS offers science to inform decision makers and the public, and to foster collaboration and trust in addressing issues of interest to all.
Over the coming decades, profound environmental and societal trends will challenge governments, administrators, and societies with increasingly complex policy decisions. Preparing for these changes will require reliable data and information. To address these needs, the USGS offers capacities such as Earth system modeling, operational forecasts, emerging technologies, advanced observing and sensing systems, and state-of-the-art information-management systems to provide proactive and on-demand integrated, dynamic, and responsive information.
Water
Information about water resources is fundamental to national and local economic well-being, protection of life and property, and effective management. The USGS works with domestic and international partners to monitor, assess, and conduct targeted research on a wide range of water resource conditions, including streamflow, groundwater, water quality, and water use and availability.
Representative Themes and Strengths
- lakes, rivers, streams, reservoirs
- aquifers, wells, springs
- snow, ice, glaciers
- groundwater/surface water exchange
- extreme hydrologic events
- floods and droughts
- transboundary assessments
- streamgaging networks
- stormwater and wastewater
- erosion and sedimentation
- contaminants and pollution
- eutrophication and harmful algal blooms
- water supply and demand
- water temperature and thermal stress
- hydrogeophysical studies
- sea level rise impacts
Energy and Minerals
USGS provides science and data on occurrence and distribution of geologic resources, including current and future energy and mineral resources and their wastes, and carbon storage capacity. It also addresses environmental and socioeconomic effects of geologic resource occurrence, extraction, use, and disposal; and global supply, demand, and trade in nonfuel mineral commodities.
Representative Themes and Strengths:
- rare earth elements
- critical minerals
- mineralogy
- mineral commodity analysis and materials flow
- igneous and metamorphic petrology
- geochemistry and geophysics
- sedimentology
- stratigraphy
- tectonics and structural geology
- economic geology
- assessment of fossil fuels and selected non-hydrocarbon energy sources
- mine waste
- environmental and human health effects of energy and mineral use
- geothermal and wind energy
Natural Hazards
Catastrophic natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, floods, and wildfires threaten lives, livelihoods, infrastructure, agriculture, and water resources resulting in billions of dollars in damage annually around the world. USGS works with partners to monitor, assess, and conduct targeted research to help identify the hazard characteristics, such as frequency, magnitude, extent, onset, and consequences on a wide range of natural hazards so that decision makers have the information they need to enhance preparedness, response, and resilience.
Representative Themes and Strengths
- Volcano Disaster Assistance Program
- Global Seismographic Network
- Earthquake Hazards Program
- floods and droughts
- seismic hazard assessments
- landslides
- sinkholes
- tsunamis
- wildfires
- hurricanes
- beach erosion, overwash, inundation
- astrogeology
Ecosystems
USGS science products help achieve sustainable management and conservation of fish and wildlife resources in wild, rural, and urban spaces. This includes programs in climate and environmental change; effects of management actions on communities, lands and waters, and species; and risks and solutions to harmful invasive species, wildlife diseases, and contaminants in the environment.
Representative Themes and Strengths
- SilvaCarbon global terrestrial carbon monitoring
- ecotoxicity
- bird migration and avian influenza
- decision support tools for natural and socioeconomic resources
- Tribal Nations and indigenous knowledge
- wetlands, mangroves, and corals
- drought, fire, and extreme weather
- fish and wildlife disease
- biosecurity
- paleoclimate
- ecosystem modelling
- snow, glaciers, permafrost
- landscapes, grasslands and plains
- vulnerabilities and adaptation planning
- social science
Geospatial Data and Tools
USGS maintains its core strengths in characterizing and understanding complex Earth and biological systems through research; modeling; highly accurate topographic, geologic, hydrographic, and biogeographic maps; and earth observation and the delivery of high-quality data. Our products allow precise planning for conservation and climate change, infrastructure projects, urban planning, flood prediction, emergency response, hazard mitigation, critical mineral assessments, and renewable energy development.
Representative Themes and Strengths
- remote sensing
- topographic, hydrographic, and geologic mapping
- data and sample preservation and delivery
- Arctic mapping and cooperation
- high-resolution elevation data
- advanced high-performance computing
- biodiversity analytics
- land-use change monitoring, planning, projection, and development
- Landsat
- International Group on Earth Observation (GEO) and AmeriGEO
- Famine Early Warning System-FEWS Net
Office Director
-
William L Cunningham
Director - Office of International ProgramsEmailPhone
Regional Science Advisors
-
Gustavo Bisbal, Ph.D. (Former Employee)
Regional Science Advisor, Western HemisphereIngrid Verstraeten
Regional Science Advisor, Central Asia, Circum Arctic, Europe and RussiaEmailJeff L Doebrich (Former Employee)
Regional Science Advisor, Africa and the Middle EastJack Medlin (Former Employee)
Regional Science Advisor, Asia & Pacific
Science Specialists
-
John W Lane, Jr., Ph.D.
Senior Advisor for Water/InternationalSenior Advisor for Water/InternationalEmailPhone
-
Matthew Andersen
International Science Advisor, BiologyEmailPhone
-
The USGS Office of International Programs helps facilitate and coordinate USGS science with diverse partners, whether they be U.S. Federal agencies or foreign governments. Themes and strengths below highlight USGS science that supports resource management decisions around the world.
Ecosystems
Geospatial Data and Tools
USGS is the U.S. Department of the Interior’s sole earth and natural science agency. For nearly 150 years, the USGS has provided objective, high-quality, policy-relevant but unbiased science, data, and information about the natural hazards that threaten lives and livelihoods; the water, energy, minerals, and other natural resources we rely on; the integrity of our ecosystems and environment; and the impacts of climate and land-use change. Because geology, environmental hazards, natural resources, and effects of climate change ignore ethnic and geopolitical boundaries, USGS offers science to inform decision makers and the public, and to foster collaboration and trust in addressing issues of interest to all.
Over the coming decades, profound environmental and societal trends will challenge governments, administrators, and societies with increasingly complex policy decisions. Preparing for these changes will require reliable data and information. To address these needs, the USGS offers capacities such as Earth system modeling, operational forecasts, emerging technologies, advanced observing and sensing systems, and state-of-the-art information-management systems to provide proactive and on-demand integrated, dynamic, and responsive information.
Water
Information about water resources is fundamental to national and local economic well-being, protection of life and property, and effective management. The USGS works with domestic and international partners to monitor, assess, and conduct targeted research on a wide range of water resource conditions, including streamflow, groundwater, water quality, and water use and availability.
Representative Themes and Strengths
- lakes, rivers, streams, reservoirs
- aquifers, wells, springs
- snow, ice, glaciers
- groundwater/surface water exchange
- extreme hydrologic events
- floods and droughts
- transboundary assessments
- streamgaging networks
- stormwater and wastewater
- erosion and sedimentation
- contaminants and pollution
- eutrophication and harmful algal blooms
- water supply and demand
- water temperature and thermal stress
- hydrogeophysical studies
- sea level rise impacts
Energy and Minerals
USGS provides science and data on occurrence and distribution of geologic resources, including current and future energy and mineral resources and their wastes, and carbon storage capacity. It also addresses environmental and socioeconomic effects of geologic resource occurrence, extraction, use, and disposal; and global supply, demand, and trade in nonfuel mineral commodities.
Representative Themes and Strengths:
- rare earth elements
- critical minerals
- mineralogy
- mineral commodity analysis and materials flow
- igneous and metamorphic petrology
- geochemistry and geophysics
- sedimentology
- stratigraphy
- tectonics and structural geology
- economic geology
- assessment of fossil fuels and selected non-hydrocarbon energy sources
- mine waste
- environmental and human health effects of energy and mineral use
- geothermal and wind energy
Natural Hazards
Catastrophic natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, floods, and wildfires threaten lives, livelihoods, infrastructure, agriculture, and water resources resulting in billions of dollars in damage annually around the world. USGS works with partners to monitor, assess, and conduct targeted research to help identify the hazard characteristics, such as frequency, magnitude, extent, onset, and consequences on a wide range of natural hazards so that decision makers have the information they need to enhance preparedness, response, and resilience.
Representative Themes and Strengths
- Volcano Disaster Assistance Program
- Global Seismographic Network
- Earthquake Hazards Program
- floods and droughts
- seismic hazard assessments
- landslides
- sinkholes
- tsunamis
- wildfires
- hurricanes
- beach erosion, overwash, inundation
- astrogeology
Ecosystems
USGS science products help achieve sustainable management and conservation of fish and wildlife resources in wild, rural, and urban spaces. This includes programs in climate and environmental change; effects of management actions on communities, lands and waters, and species; and risks and solutions to harmful invasive species, wildlife diseases, and contaminants in the environment.
Representative Themes and Strengths
- SilvaCarbon global terrestrial carbon monitoring
- ecotoxicity
- bird migration and avian influenza
- decision support tools for natural and socioeconomic resources
- Tribal Nations and indigenous knowledge
- wetlands, mangroves, and corals
- drought, fire, and extreme weather
- fish and wildlife disease
- biosecurity
- paleoclimate
- ecosystem modelling
- snow, glaciers, permafrost
- landscapes, grasslands and plains
- vulnerabilities and adaptation planning
- social science
Geospatial Data and Tools
USGS maintains its core strengths in characterizing and understanding complex Earth and biological systems through research; modeling; highly accurate topographic, geologic, hydrographic, and biogeographic maps; and earth observation and the delivery of high-quality data. Our products allow precise planning for conservation and climate change, infrastructure projects, urban planning, flood prediction, emergency response, hazard mitigation, critical mineral assessments, and renewable energy development.
Representative Themes and Strengths
- remote sensing
- topographic, hydrographic, and geologic mapping
- data and sample preservation and delivery
- Arctic mapping and cooperation
- high-resolution elevation data
- advanced high-performance computing
- biodiversity analytics
- land-use change monitoring, planning, projection, and development
- Landsat
- International Group on Earth Observation (GEO) and AmeriGEO
- Famine Early Warning System-FEWS Net
Office Director
-
William L Cunningham
Director - Office of International ProgramsEmailPhone
Regional Science Advisors
-
Gustavo Bisbal, Ph.D. (Former Employee)
Regional Science Advisor, Western HemisphereIngrid Verstraeten
Regional Science Advisor, Central Asia, Circum Arctic, Europe and RussiaEmailJeff L Doebrich (Former Employee)
Regional Science Advisor, Africa and the Middle EastJack Medlin (Former Employee)
Regional Science Advisor, Asia & Pacific
Science Specialists
-
John W Lane, Jr., Ph.D.
Senior Advisor for Water/InternationalSenior Advisor for Water/InternationalEmailPhone
-
Matthew Andersen
International Science Advisor, BiologyEmailPhone
-