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.
Uncertainty quantification and propagation for projections of extremes in monthly area burned under climate change: A case study in the coastal plain of Georgia, USA
Human‐caused climate change is predicted to affect the frequency of hazard‐linked extremes. Unusually large wildfires are a type of extreme event that is constrained by climate and can be a hazard to society but also an important ecological disturbance. This chapter focuses on changes in the frequency of extreme monthly area burned by wildfires...
Riley, Karin L.; Webley, Peter; Thompson, Matthew; Terando, Adam J.; Reich, Brian J.; Pacifici, Krishna; Costanza, Jennifer; McKerrow, Alexa J.; Collazo, Jaime A. Projected gains and losses of wildlife habitat from bioenergy-induced landscape change
Domestic and foreign renewable energy targets and financial incentives have increased demand for woody biomass and bioenergy in the southeastern United States. This demand is expected to be met through purpose-grown agricultural bioenergy crops, short-rotation tree plantations, thinning and harvest of planted and natural forests, and forest...
Tarr, Nathan M.; Rubino, Matthew J.; Costanza, Jennifer K.; McKerrow, Alexa J.; Collazo, Jaime A.; Abt, Robert C. Bioenergy production and forest landscape change in the southeastern United States
Production of woody biomass for bioenergy, whether wood pellets or liquid biofuels, has the potential to cause substantial landscape change and concomitant effects on forest ecosystems, but the landscape effects of alternative production scenarios have not been fully assessed. We simulated landscape change from 2010 to 2050 under five scenarios of...
Costanza, Jennifer K.; Abt, Robert C.; McKerrow, Alexa J.; Collazo, Jaime A. Book review: Mapping gendered routes and spaces in the early modern world
This book encapsulates and extends many seminal ideas presented at the eighth “Attending to Early Modern Women” conference held at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in June 2012. Merry Wiesner-Hanks has done a masterful job editing these papers within a central theme of the interaction of spatial domains with gender-based phenomena. The...
Varanka, Dalia E.
Evaluating integration of inland bathymetry in the U.S. Geological Survey 3D Elevation Program, 2014
Inland bathymetry survey collections, survey data types, features, sources, availability, and the effort required to integrate inland bathymetric data into the U.S. Geological Survey 3D Elevation Program are assessed to help determine the feasibility of integrating three-dimensional water feature elevation data into The National Map. Available...
Miller-Corbett, Cynthia Infrastructure system restoration planning using evolutionary algorithms
This paper presents an evolutionary algorithm to address restoration issues for supply chain interdependent critical infrastructure. Rapid restoration of infrastructure after a large-scale disaster is necessary to sustaining a nation's economy and security, but such long-term restoration has not been investigated as thoroughly as initial rescue...
Corns, Steven; Long, Suzanna K.; Shoberg, Thomas G. Isotopically constrained lead sources in fugitive dust from unsurfaced roads in the southeast Missouri mining district
The isotopic composition of lead (Pb) in fugitive dust suspended by a vehicle from 13 unsurfaced roads in Missouri was measured to identify the source of Pb within an established long-term mining area. A three end-member model using 207Pb/206Pb and concentration as tracers resulted in fugitive dust samples plotting in the mixing field of well...
Witt, Emitt C.; Pribil, Michael; Hogan, John P; Wronkiewicz, David
3D Elevation Program—Virtual USA in 3D
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) uses a laser system called ‘lidar’ (light detection and ranging) to create a virtual reality map of the Nation that is very accurate. 3D maps have many uses with new uses being discovered all the time.
Lukas, Vicki; Stoker, J.M. Evaluating lidar point densities for effective estimation of aboveground biomass
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) was recently established to provide airborne lidar data coverage on a national scale. As part of a broader research effort of the USGS to develop an effective remote sensing-based methodology for the creation of an operational biomass Essential Climate Variable (Biomass ECV) data...
Wu, Zhuoting; Dye, Dennis G.; Stoker, Jason M.; Vogel, John M.; Velasco, Miguel G.; Middleton, Barry R. Normalized burn ratios link fire severity with patterns of avian occurrence
ContextRemotely sensed differenced normalized burn ratios (DNBR) provide an index of fire severity across the footprint of a fire. We asked whether this index was useful for explaining patterns of bird occurrence within fire adapted xeric pine-oak forests of the southern Appalachian Mountains.ObjectivesWe evaluated the use of DNBR indices for...
Rose, Eli T.; Simons, Theodore R.; Klein, Rob; McKerrow, Alexa J.
USGS lidar science strategy—Mapping the technology to the science
Summary The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) utilizes light detection and ranging (lidar) and enabling technologies to support many science research activities. Lidar-derived metrics and products have become a fundamental input to complex hydrologic and hydraulic models, flood inundation models, fault detection and geologic mapping, topographic and...
Stoker, Jason M.; Brock, John C.; Soulard, Christopher E.; Ries, Kernell G.; Sugarbaker, Larry J.; Newton, Wesley E.; Haggerty, Patricia K.; Lee, Kathy; Young, John A. Post-disaster supply chain interdependent critical infrastructure system restoration: A review of data necessary and available for modeling
The majority of restoration strategies in the wake of large-scale disasters have focused on short-term emergency response solutions. Few consider medium- to long-term restoration strategies to reconnect urban areas to national supply chain interdependent critical infrastructure systems (SCICI). These SCICI promote the effective flow of goods,...
Ramachandran, Varun; Long, Suzanna K.; Shoberg, Thomas G.; Corns, Steven; Carlo, Hector J.