Mission Areas
Land Resources
Understanding a changing world and how it affects our natural resources, livelihoods, and communities. Science plays an essential role in helping communities and resource managers understand the local to global implications of change, anticipate the effects of change, prepare for change, and reduce the risks associated with decisionmaking in a changing environment.
EROS Center
The Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center is responsible for satellite operations, including Landsat, and performs image data collection, archiving, processing, and distribution.
Explore EROSLandCarbon
The biologic carbon sequestration assessment program (LandCarbon) studies ecosystem carbon cycle research topics, investigates carbon management science needs, and develops monitoring methods.
Learn MoreData and Tools
Land Resources supports the science community with its long-term observational networks and extensive databases encompassing the fields of climate history, land-use and land-cover change, and carbon and nutrient cycles.
U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit
News
Satellite Constellations: Taking a Collective Look at Earth from 705 Kilometers Overhead
Jim Lacasse, the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Landsat Mission Operations Project Manager out at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, told the Eyes on Earth podcast crew a fascinating story the other day about satellite constellations
Rising Seas: EROS Brings Valuable Elevation Knowledge to Islands, Coastlines
As sea levels rise around the planet, as storm surges threaten islands and coastal communities, decision makers face a lot of questions about how to protect their citizens and their landscapes.
Data Quality, Geometric Accuracy are Key Topics for 2020 JACIE and ECCOE Workshops
In a world where observing Earth’s landscapes from space has become more common for government agencies and commercial ventures, there is a question currently getting a lot of attention: Is there a way to make images from all those different and varied systems usable with each other?
Publications
Do empirical observations support commonly-held climate change range shift hypotheses? A systematic review protocol
Background Among the most widely anticipated climate-related impacts to biodiversity are geographic range shifts, whereby species shift their spatial distribution in response to changing climate conditions. In particular, a series of commonly articulated hypotheses have emerged: species are expected to shift their distributions to higher...
Rubenstein, Madeleine A.; Weiskopf, Sarah R.; Carter, Shawn; Eaton, Mitchell; Johnson, Ciara; Lynch, Abigail; Miller, Brian W.; Morelli, Toni Lyn; Rodriguez, Mari Angel; Terando, Adam; Thompson, Laura
Assessment of rangeland ecosystem conditions in Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, Arizona
Sustainability of dryland ecosystems depends on the functionality of soil-vegetation feedbacks that affect ecosystem processes, such as nutrient cycling, water capture and retention, soil erosion and deposition, and plant establishment and reproduction. Useful, common indicators can provide information on soil and site stability, hydrologic...
Duniway, Michael C.; Palmquist, Emily C. The role of sand lances (Ammodytes sp.) in the Northwest Atlantic Ecosystem: A synthesis of current knowledge with implications for conservation and management
The American sand lance (Ammodytes americanus, Ammodytidae) and the Northern sand lance (A. dubius, Ammodytidae) are small forage fishes that play an important functional role in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean (NWA). The NWA is a highly dynamic ecosystem currently facing increased risks from climate change, fishing and energy development. We need a...
Staudinger, Michelle D.; Goyert, Holly ; Suca, Justin ; Coleman, Kaycee ; Welch, Linda ; Llopiz, Joel ; Wiley, Dave ; Altman, Irit ; Applegate, Andew ; Auster, Peter ; Baumann, Hannes ; Beaty, Julia ; Boelke, Deirdre ; Kaufman, Les ; Loring, Pam ; Moxley, Jerry ; Paton, Suzanne ; Powers, Kevin; Richardson, David ; Robbins, Jooke ; Runge, Jeff ; Smith, Brian ; Spiegel, Caleb ; Steinmetz, Halley