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

USGS New Supercomputer Helps Scientists Wrangle Data

link

Mapping Challenge Update (11/30/23): Hospitals, Ambulances, and Fire Stations in Utah

link

Inspired by EROS: See Unisphere Display at Sioux Falls Museum

Publications

At what scales does a river meander? Scale-specific sinuosity (S3) metric for quantifying stream meander size distribution

Stream bend geometry is linked to terrain features, hydrologic and ecologic conditions, and anthropogenic forces. Knowledge of the distributions of geometric properties of streams advances understanding of changing landscape conditions and associated processes that operate over a range of spatial scales. Statistical decomposition of sinuosity in natural linear features has proven a longstanding ch
Authors
Larry Stanislawski, Barry J. Kronenfeld, Barbara P. Buttenfield, Ethan J. Shavers

A guide to creating an effective big data management framework

Many agencies and organizations, such as the U.S. Geological Survey, handle massive geospatial datasets and their auxiliary data and are thus faced with challenges in storing data and ingesting it, transferring it between internal programs, and egressing it to external entities. As a result, these agencies and organizations may inadvertently devote unnecessary time and money to convey data without
Authors
Samantha Arundel, Kevin G McKeehan, Bryan B Campbell, Andrew N. Bulen, Philip T. Thiem

Developing satellite-estimated precipitation monthly reports for selected locations in the Republic of the Marshall Islands

The Republic of the Marshall Islands (also known as the Marshall Islands) is a nation of more than 30 low-lying atolls and islands, most of which are inhabited, dispersed across an Exclusive Economic Zone over 770,000 square miles in the tropical central north Pacific Ocean. Monitoring environmental conditions for potential drought risk is challenging in such a dispersed island nation, and current
Authors
Gabriel B. Senay, David A. Helweg, Stefanie Kagone, John B. Taylor, Thomas Cecere, Tiare Eastmond, Amy Koch, Kurtis Nelson, Lajikit Rufus

Science

Eyes on Earth Episode 109 – Fall 2023 EROS Poster Session

If you’ve never been to a scientific poster session, this episode will provide a taste of what it’s like.
link

Eyes on Earth Episode 109 – Fall 2023 EROS Poster Session

If you’ve never been to a scientific poster session, this episode will provide a taste of what it’s like.
Learn More
link

Eyes on Earth Episode 108 – Landsat 8’s 100th Drag Make-Up Maneuver

The USGS EROS Landsat Flight Operations Team recently completed the 100th Drag Make-Up maneuver for Landsat 8.
Learn More
link

Eyes on Earth Episode 107 – EROS 50th: Land Cover, Part 2

The next step for two strong land cover products at USGS EROS is to combine them to create something even better.
Learn More