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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.

Filter Total Items: 247

An assessment of the representation of ecosystems in global protected areas using new maps of World Climate Regions and World Ecosystems

Representation of ecosystems in protected area networks and conservation strategies is a core principle of global conservation priority setting approaches and a commitment in Aichi Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) explicitly call for the conservation of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. Accurate ecosystem distribution
Authors
Roger Sayre, Deniz Karagulle, Charlie Frye, Timothy Boucher, Nicholas Wolff, Sean Breyer, Dawn Wright, Madeline T. Martin, Kevin Butler, Keith Van Graafeiland, Jerry Touval, Leonardo Sotomayor, Jennifer McGowan, Edward T. Game, Hugh P. Possingham

Employing an ecosystem services framework to deliver decision ready science

Public land managers have limited information to allow for the integration and balancing of multiple objectives in land management decisions including the social (cultural and health), economic (monetary and nonmonetary), and environmental aspects. In this article, we document an approach to consider the many facets of decision making by incorporating them into a decision context using an ecosyst
Authors
Emily J. Pindilli, Dianna M. Hogan, Zhiliang Zhu

Alignment of surface water ontologies: A comparison of manual and automated approaches

More data are being collected about the world around us than ever before, but effectively using this information requires different data stores to be integrated in such a way that they can be seamlessly queried and analyzed. Automated alignment algorithms exist to facilitate this data integration challenge. In this paper we examine the utility of two current leading automated alignment systems to
Authors
Michelle Cheatham, Dalia E. Varanka, Fatima Arauz, Lu Zhou

A spatio-contextual probabilistic model for extracting linear features in hilly terrain from high-resolution DEM data

This paper introduces our research in developing a probabilistic model to extract linear terrain features from high resolution DEM (Digital Elevation Model) data. The proposed model takes full advantage of spatio-contextual information to characterize terrain changes. It first derives a quantifiable measure of spatio-contextual patterns of linear terrain feature, such as ridgelines, valley lines a
Authors
Xiran Zhou, Wenwen Li, Samantha Arundel

The effect of resolution on terrain feature extraction

Recent increase in the production of high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) from lidar data has led to interest in their use for terrain mapping. Although the impact of different resolutions has been studied relative to terrain characteristics like roughness, slope and curvature, its relationship to the extraction of terrain features remains unclear. To address this question, this study t
Authors
Samantha Arundel, Wenwen Li, Xiran Zhou

Evaluating k-nearest neighbor (kNN) imputation models for species-level aboveground forest biomass mapping in northeast China

Quantifying spatially explicit or pixel-level aboveground forest biomass (AFB) across large regions is critical for measuring forest carbon sequestration capacity, assessing forest carbon balance, and revealing changes in the structure and function of forest ecosystems. When AFB is measured at the species level using widely available remote sensing data, regional changes in forest composition can
Authors
Yuanyuan Fu, Hong S He, Todd Hawbaker, Paul D. Henne, Zhiliang Zhu, David R. Larsen

The Islands of Oceania – Political geography, biogeography, and terrestrial ecosystems

Humans are dependent upon ecosystems for the production of goods and services necessary for their well-being (Daily, 1997). As the service provider units (SPUs) for these benefits of nature (Anderson et al., 2015), ecosystems need to be managed in a way that maximizes their persistence on the planet. Part of that management effort includes knowing a) what the ecosystem types are, b) where they are
Authors
Roger Sayre, Madeline Thomas Martin, Deniz Karagulle, Charlie Frye, Sean Breyer, Dawn Wright, Kevin Butler, Keith Van Graafeiland, Simone Maynard

U.S. Geological Survey accomplishments in cartography 2015-2019

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the United States' official national topographic mapping organization, is building and maintaining geographic databases for fundamental base geographic layers of land cover, structures, boundaries, hydrography, geographic names, transportation, elevation, and orthoimagery as The National Map. Data from the 3D Elevation Program, the National Hydrography Dataset an
Authors
E. Lynn Usery

Semantically supported linked data mapping

Semantic technology based on the Resource Description Framework (RDF) modeling environment has introduced new data management capabilities that can lead to innovative cartographic techniques. This report describes research toward more semantically expressive linked geospatial data mapping, topics of research, and an avenue for further  international collaboration.
Authors
Dalia E. Varanka

Simplification of polylines by segment collapse: Minimizing areal displacement while preserving area

This paper reports on a new Area Preserving Segment Collapse (APSC) algorithm for simplifying polygonal boundaries while preserving polygonal area at simplified target scales and minimizing areal displacement. A general segment collapse algorithm is defined by iteratively collapsing segments to Steiner points in priority order, guided by placement and displacement functions. The algorithm is speci
Authors
Barry J. Kronenfeld, Larry Stanislawski, Barbara P. Buttenfield, Tyler Brockmeyer

Carbon dioxide emissions and methane flux from forested wetland soils of the Great Dismal Swamp, USA

The Great Dismal Swamp, a freshwater forested peatland, has accumulated massive amounts of soil carbon since the postglacial period. Logging and draining have severely altered the hydrology and forest composition, leading to drier soils, accelerated oxidation, and vulnerability to disturbance. The once dominant Atlantic white cedar, cypress, and pocosin forest types are now fragmented, resulting i
Authors
Laurel Gutenberg, K. W. Krauss, John Qu, Changwoo Ahn, Dianna M. Hogan, Zhiliang Zhu, Chenyang Xu

Supply chain infrastructure restoration calculator software tool—Developer guide and user manual

This report describes a software tool that calculates costs associated with the reconstruction of supply chain interdependent critical infrastructure in the advent of a catastrophic failure by either outside forces (extreme events) or internal forces (fatigue). This tool fills a gap between search and recover strategies of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (or FEMA) and construction techniqu
Authors
Akhilesh Ojha, Bhanu Kanwar, Suzanna K. Long, Thomas G. Shoberg, Steven Corns