LCMAP Change Stories: Building a Boomtown, Block by Block Active
The desert outpost of Palm Springs, California and the surrounding Thousand Palms region has experienced explosive population growth over the past four decades, with tract after tract of development filling in previously barren landscapes along Interstate 10.
Explosive as the growth may be, it follows a relatively orderly pattern. A year-by-year look at Primary Land Cover data from the USGS Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) initiative can tease out details on the emergence of that development that a before-and-after snapshot would miss.
Pay close attention to red plots of developed land cover in this animation. Expansion often starts with the construction of a gridded main road system, a change that carves a red border around squares of gray barren land, brown cropland or tan grassland or shrubland. These squares eventually fill in with the dense housing developments, residential streets, golf courses and associated recreational facilities that replace the sparse desert vegetation found in the region naturally.
Explore more LCMAP Change Stories by following the links below.
LCMAP Change Stories: Gone in 60 Seconds
LCMAP Change Stories: It's a Sprawl World After All
LCMAP Change Stories: Hurricanes in the Everglades
LCMAP Change Stories: Alabama Tornadoes
- Overview
The desert outpost of Palm Springs, California and the surrounding Thousand Palms region has experienced explosive population growth over the past four decades, with tract after tract of development filling in previously barren landscapes along Interstate 10.
Explosive as the growth may be, it follows a relatively orderly pattern. A year-by-year look at Primary Land Cover data from the USGS Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) initiative can tease out details on the emergence of that development that a before-and-after snapshot would miss.
Pay close attention to red plots of developed land cover in this animation. Expansion often starts with the construction of a gridded main road system, a change that carves a red border around squares of gray barren land, brown cropland or tan grassland or shrubland. These squares eventually fill in with the dense housing developments, residential streets, golf courses and associated recreational facilities that replace the sparse desert vegetation found in the region naturally.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details - Science
Explore more LCMAP Change Stories by following the links below.
LCMAP Change Stories: Gone in 60 Seconds
At first glance, the most striking patterns in land cover change over time in this animation of the Oso, Washington area would appear to be forest harvest and regrowth, but a more dramatic change emerged in 2014.LCMAP Change Stories: It's a Sprawl World After All
The man-made Florida playland of Walt Disney World has grown outward on all sides since the amusement park’s construction commenced in the 1960s. Much of that growth has overtaken the wetlands, tree cover and grassland/shrublands near Orlando.LCMAP Change Stories: Hurricanes in the Everglades
When Atlantic hurricanes make landfall in south Florida, the coastal marshes and mangrove forests of the Everglades often act as a buffer that protects residents from rising sea levels, high winds and storm surge.LCMAP Change Stories: Alabama Tornadoes
The USGS Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection initiative aims to identify where the landscape is changing and why.