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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: 262

High performance computing to support multiscale representation of hydrography for the conterminous United States

The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) for the United States furnishes a comprehensive set of vector features representing the surface-waters in the country (U.S. Geological Survey 2000). The high-resolution (HR) layer of the NHD is largely comprised of hydrographic features originally derived from 1:24,000-scale (24K) U.S. Topographic maps. However, in recent years (2009 to present) densified hyd
Authors
Larry V. Stanislawski, Yan Liu, Barbara P. Buttenfield, Kornelijus Survila, Jeffrey Wendel, Abdurraouf Okok

Defining resilience: A preliminary integrative literature review

The term “resilience” is ubiquitous in technical literature; it appears in numerous forms, such as resilience, resiliency, or resilient, and each use may have a different definition depending on the interpretation of the writer. This creates difficulties in understanding what is meant by ‘resilience’ in any given use case, especially in discussions of interdisciplinary research. To better understa
Authors
Bonnie Wilt, Suzanna K. Long, Thomas G. Shoberg

Adapting the U.S. National Hydrography Dataset to linked open data

A controlled vocabulary for the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) of the United States was developed as Linked Open Data (LOD). The vocabulary has two main parts: a glossary and a set of triples reflecting the NHD data model as it is organized in geographic information systems (GIS). The glossary consists of a feature type label and a comment consisting of a definition that is linked to a hydrogr
Authors
Dalia E. Varanka, E. Lynn Usery, David M. Mattli

Evaluation of the U.S. Geological Survey standard elevation products in a two-dimensional hydraulic modeling application for a low relief coastal floodplain

Growing use of two-dimensional (2-D) hydraulic models has created a need for high resolution data to support flood volume estimates, floodplain specific engineering data, and accurate flood inundation scenarios. Elevation data are a critical input to these models that guide the flood-wave across the landscape allowing the computation of valuable engineering specific data that provides a better und
Authors
Emitt C. Witt

Geospatial resources for the geologic community: The USGS National Map

Geospatial data are a key component of investigating, interpreting, and communicating the geological sciences. Locating geospatial data can be time-consuming, which detracts from time spent on a study because these data are not obviously placed in central locations or are served from many disparate databases. The National Map of the US Geological Survey is a publicly available resource for accessi
Authors
Emitt C. Witt

1-Meter Digital Elevation Model specification

In January 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey National Geospatial Technical Operations Center began producing the 1-Meter Digital Elevation Model data product. This new product was developed to provide high resolution bare-earth digital elevation models from light detection and ranging (lidar) elevation data and other elevation data collected over the conterminous United States (lower 48 States), Ha
Authors
Samantha T. Arundel, Christy-Ann M. Archuleta, Lori A. Phillips, Brittany L. Roche, Eric W. Constance

An evaluation of unsupervised and supervised learning algorithms for clustering landscape types in the United States

Knowledge of landscape type can inform cartographic generalization of hydrographic features, because landscape characteristics provide an important geographic context that affects variation in channel geometry, flow pattern, and network configuration. Landscape types are characterized by expansive spatial gradients, lacking abrupt changes between adjacent classes; and as having a limited number of
Authors
Jochen Wendel, Barbara P. Buttenfield, Larry V. Stanislawski

Automated extraction of natural drainage density patterns for the conterminous United States through high performance computing

Hydrographic networks form an important data foundation for cartographic base mapping and for hydrologic analysis. Drainage density patterns for these networks can be derived to characterize local landscape, bedrock and climate conditions, and further inform hydrologic and geomorphological analysis by indicating areas where too few headwater channels have been extracted. But natural drainage densi
Authors
Larry V. Stanislawski, Jeff T. Falgout, Barbara P. Buttenfield

A rapid approach for automated comparison of independently derived stream networks

This paper presents an improved coefficient of line correspondence (CLC) metric for automatically assessing the similarity of two different sets of linear features. Elevation-derived channels at 1:24,000 scale (24K) are generated from a weighted flow-accumulation model and compared to 24K National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) flowlines. The CLC process conflates two vector datasets through a raster l
Authors
Larry V. Stanislawski, Barbara P. Buttenfield, Ariel T. Doumbouya

Framework for modeling urban restoration resilience time in the aftermath of an extreme event

The impacts of extreme events continue long after the emergency response has terminated. Effective reconstruction of supply-chain strategic infrastructure (SCSI) elements is essential for postevent recovery and the reconnectivity of a region with the outside. This study uses an interdisciplinary approach to develop a comprehensive framework to model resilience time. The framework is tested by comp
Authors
Varun Ramachandran, Suzanna K. Long, Thomas G. Shoberg, Steven Corns, Héctor Carlo

A Systems Thinking approach to post-disaster restoration of maritime transportation systems

A Systems Thinking approach is used to examine elements of a maritime transportation system that are most likely to be impacted by an extreme event. The majority of the literature uses a high-level view that can fail to capture the damage at the sub-system elements. This work uses a system dynamics simulation for a better view and understanding of the Port of San Juan, Puerto Rico, as a whole syst

Authors
Lizzette Pérez Lespier, Suzanna K. Long, Thomas G. Shoberg

Crowdsourcing The National Map

Using crowdsourcing techniques, the US Geological Survey’s (USGS) Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) project known as “The National Map Corps (TNMCorps)” encourages citizen scientists to collect and edit data about man-made structures in an effort to provide accurate and authoritative map data for the USGS National Geospatial Program’s web-based The National Map. VGI is not new to the USGS,
Authors
Elizabeth McCartney, Kari J. Craun, Erin M. Korris, David A. Brostuen, Laurence R. Moore
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