Core Science Systems
Publications
Here you will find publications, reports and articles produced by Core Science System scientists. For a comprehensive listing of all USGS publications please click the button below.
Drought stress and hurricane defoliation influence mountain clouds and moisture recycling in a tropical forest
Mountain ranges generate clouds, precipitation, and perennial streamflow for water supplies, but the role of forest cover in mountain hydrometeorology and cloud formation is not well understood. In the Luquillo Experimental Forest of Puerto Rico, mountains are immersed in clouds nightly, providing a steady precipitation source to support the...
Scholl, Martha A.; Bassiouni, Maoya; Torres-Sanchez, Angel J. Identification of Global Priorities for New Mountain Protected and Conserved Areas
Mountain ecosystems are extremely diverse and fragile. They include astonishing biodiversity in terms of number of taxa and endemicity, and globally provide the most diverse range of ecosystem services. The world’s system of protected and conserved areas includes many outstanding areas within the earth’s mountainous landscape: about 19% of...
Jacobs, Peter; Beever, Erik A.; Carbutt, Clinton; Foggin, Marc; Juffe-Bignoli, Diego; Martin, Madeline Thomas; Orchard, Shane; Sayre, Roger Carbon stock losses and recovery observed for a mangrove ecosystem following a major hurricane in Southwest Florida
Studies integrating mangrove in-situ observations and remote sensing analysis for specific sites often lack precise estimates of carbon stocks over time frames that include disturbance events. This study quantifies change in mangrove area from 1985 to 2018 with Landsat time series analysis, estimates above and belowground stored carbon...
Peneva-Reed, Elitsa I.; Krauss, Ken; Bullock, Eric L.; Zhu, Zhiliang; Woltz, Victoria; Drexler, Judith Z.; Conrad, Jeremy R.; Stehman, Stephen V The geography of islands
Islands come in all shapes, sizes and types, from tiny rocky outcrops, to enormous continental landmasses. The true number of islands distributed in the planet’s seas and oceans is still elusive. Recent efforts bolstered by an abundance of detailed satellite imagery and the sophistication of geographic information systems (GIS) are bringing real...
Sayre, Roger; Martin, Madeline Thomas; Cress, Jill Janene; Holmes, N.; McDermott-Long, O.; Spatz, D.; VanGraafeiland, K.; Weatherdon, L.; Will, D.
2020 Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation—Remote sensing satellite compendium
The Joint Agency Commercial Imagery Evaluation (JACIE) is a collaboration between five Federal agencies that are major users and producers of satellite land remote sensing data. In recent years, the JACIE group has observed ever-increasing numbers of remote sensing satellites being launched. This rapidly growing wave of new systems creates a need...
Ramaseri Chandra, Shankar N.; Christopherson, Jon B.; Casey, Kimberly A.
Elevation-derived hydrography acquisition specifications
Hydrographic features derived from U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 3D Elevation Program data, and collected for use by the USGS, must meet the specifications described in this document. The specifications described herein pertain to the final product delivered to the USGS, not to methods used to derive the hydrographic features. The specifications...
Terziotti, Silvia; Archuleta, Christy-Ann
Elevation-derived hydrography—Representation, extraction, attribution, and delineation rules
With the increasing availability of 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) quality high resolution elevation data across the United States and the pressing need for better integrated elevation and hydrography data, the U.S. Geological Survey is developing guidance to improve the horizontal and vertical alignment of these datasets. The U.S. Geological Survey...
Archuleta, Christy-Ann; Terziotti, Silvia Global islands
A new map of global islands at a high spatial resolution (30 m) has been produced from a semi-automated interpretation of 2014 satellite imagery. The data are available in the public domain. The islands were classified by size into continental mainlands (5), big islands > 1 km2 (21,818), and small islands ≤ 1...
Martin, Madeline Thomas; Sayre, Roger; Van Graafeiland, Keith; McDermott-Long, Osgur; Weatherdon, Lauren; Will, David; Spatz, Dena R.; Holmes, Nicholas GeoNat v1.0: A dataset for natural feature mapping with artificial intelligence and supervised learning
Machine learning allows “the machine” to deduce the complex and sometimes unrecognized rules governing spatial systems, particularly topographic mapping, by exposing it to the end product. Often, the obstacle to this approach is the acquisition of many good and labeled training examples of the desired result. Such is the case with most types of...
Arundel, Samantha; Li, Wenwen; Wang, Sizhe Preserving meander bend geometry through scale
Stream meander geometry is a function of hydrologic, geologic, and anthropogenic forces. Meander morphometrics are used in geomorphic classification, ecological characterization, and tectonic and hydrologic change detection. Thus, detailed measurement and classification of meander geometry is imperative to multiscale representation of hydrographic...
Shavers, Ethan J.; Stanislawski, Larry; Buttenfield, Barbara P.; Kronenfeld, Barry J.
Sediment and chemical contaminant loads in tributaries to the Anacostia River, Washington, District of Columbia, 2016–17
A study was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Washington, D.C., Department of Energy & Environment to estimate the loads of suspended-sediment-bound chemical compounds in five gaged tributaries and four ungaged tributaries of the Anacostia River (known locally as “Lower Anacostia River”) in Washington, D.C...
Wilson, Timothy P. OpenCLC: An open-source software tool for similarity assessment of linear hydrographic features
The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) is a foundational geospatial data source in the United States that enables extensive and diverse environmental research and supports decision-making in numerous contexts. However, the NHD requires regular validation and update given possible inconsistent initial collection and hydrographic changes....
Li, Ting; Stanislawski, Larry; Brockmeyer, Tyler; Wang, Shaowen; Shavers, Ethan J.