Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Core Science Systems Mission Area

CSS leads USGS’s mission as the civilian mapping agency for the Nation. We conduct detailed surveys and develop high quality, highly accurate topographic, geologic, hydrographic, and biogeographic maps and data. Our maps allow precise planning for critical mineral assessments; energy development; infrastructure projects; urban planning; flood prediction; emergency response; and haz

News

link

New ECCOE Tool Helps Compare Satellite Data and Products

link

Mapping Challenge Update (03/21/23): Schools in Washington and Oregon

link

Mapping Challenge Update (03/16/23): Schools in Washington and Oregon

Publications

Trends in tree cover change over three decades related to interannual climate variability and wildfire in California

The U.S. State of California has experienced frequent drought events, hotter temperatures and other disruptions to the climate system whose effects on ecosystems have been widely reported in recent decades. Studies primarily confined to specific vegetation communities or species, individual drought incidents, or analysis over a relatively short intervals, has limited our understanding of the broad

Ecological Coastal Units – Standardized global shoreline characteristics

A new set of resources is now available that describe global shoreline characteristics. High resolution (30 m), globally comprehensive Coastal Segment Units (CSUs) and Ecological Coastal Units (ECUs) were developed in a collaboration between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Esri, and the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON). The data were produced from a segmentation and characterizati

Toward consistent change detection across irregular remote sensing time series observations

The use of remote sensing in time series analysis enables wall-to-wall monitoring of the land surface and is critical for assessing and understanding land cover and land use change and for understanding the Earth system as a whole. However, variability in remote sensing observation frequency through time and across space presents challenges for producing consistent change detection results through

Science

Eyes on Earth Episode 92 – EROS 50th: The Library and Science Support

Here's a peek inside the Don Lee Kulow Library at EROS and its key role in research support for 50 years.
link

Eyes on Earth Episode 92 – EROS 50th: The Library and Science Support

Here's a peek inside the Don Lee Kulow Library at EROS and its key role in research support for 50 years.
Learn More

Eyes on Earth Episode 91 – Intro to AmericaView

Learn about AmericaView’s role of educating all ages about Earth observation and remote sensing science.
link

Eyes on Earth Episode 91 – Intro to AmericaView

Learn about AmericaView’s role of educating all ages about Earth observation and remote sensing science.
Learn More

Eyes on Earth Episode 90 – Landsat 8 Turns 10

Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we reflect on Landsat 8’s 10th anniversary and the satellite’s contribution of 2.5 million scenes to the 50-year Landsat archive.
link

Eyes on Earth Episode 90 – Landsat 8 Turns 10

Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we reflect on Landsat 8’s 10th anniversary and the satellite’s contribution of 2.5 million scenes to the 50-year Landsat archive.
Learn More