Publications

From its rolling pastures to its forested Appalachian peaks, Kentucky’s scenery offers beauty along with contrast. Rivers, including the Mississippi and the Ohio, border much of the State, and more rivers and hundreds of lakes are inside its borders. Kentucky is also home to the world’s longest known cave system, Mammoth Cave National Park, and its residents maintain long-held traditions...

Massachusetts is the seventh smallest U.S. State in land area, but its size is surpassed by its contributions to U.S. history and the economy, its academic and medical expertise, and its natural features. The Atlantic Ocean to the east gives the “Bay State” more than 1,500 miles of coastline that were important in past fishing and maritime trade industries and in the tourism industry of...

Missouri, one of only two States that borders eight different States, lies in the heart of the United States. Distinguished by its farm fields and forests, substantial rivers and lakes, and cities filled with culture and industry, the “Show Me State” has abundant beauty and a long history of connecting the East and the West. The Pony Express, Oregon Trail, Santa Fe Trail, and California...

Idaho may be popular for potatoes, but the State’s richness also lies in its scenery and natural resources. Its terrain varies from mountains, rivers, and waterfalls to forests, volcanic rock, and hot springs. A growing population gives Idaho even more reason to use the best information available to serve the needs of its residents while wisely managing its environment and natural...

Illinois is home to more than 12 million residents, including those living in Chicago, the third-largest city in the United States. Yet farmland claims about 75 percent of the largely flat terrain in Illinois. Tallgrass prairie once covered “The Prairie State,” and some remnants remain, but corn and soybeans are a far more common sight now. Adding variety to the landscape, beaches line...

We analyzed impacts of interannual disturbance on the water balance of watersheds in different forested ecosystem case studies across the United States from 1985 to 2016 using a remotely sensed long-term land cover monitoring record (U.S. Geological Survey Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) Collection 1.0 Science products), gridded precipitation and evaporation...

South Carolina, the eighth State admitted to the union, transcends its size with its deep, rich history; striking beauty; vast natural resources; and extensive cultural diversity. Home to part of the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Central Appalachians, the Upstate is graced with more than 100 waterfalls, while the Lowcountry borders the Atlantic Ocean with 187 miles of coastline and 35...

Sample-based estimates augmented by complete coverage land-cover maps were used to estimate area and describe patterns of annual land-cover change across the conterminous United States (CONUS) between 1985 and 2016. Most of the CONUS land cover remained stable in terms of net class change over this time, but a substantial gross change dynamic was captured by the annual and cumulative...

Colorado’s geography seems designed to impress. Although the Rocky Mountains takes up only one-half of the State, more than 50 of its peaks rise at least 14,000 feet above sea level—far more “fourteeners” than any other State. Many of these mountains receive hundreds of inches of snow annually. The Rocky Mountains provide the Continental Divide, or watershed boundary, for North America...

Executive Summary This report addresses system characterization of Planet’s SuperDove and is part of a series of system characterization reports produced and delivered by the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val Center of Excellence. These reports present and detail the methodology and procedures for characterization; present technical and operational...

Area estimates of land cover and land cover change are often based on reference class labels determined by analysts interpreting satellite imagery and aerial photography. Different interpreters may assign different reference class labels to the same sample unit. This interpreter variability is typically not accounted for in variance estimators applied to area estimates of land cover. A...

Urban development and associated land cover and land use change alter the thermal, hydrological, and physical properties of the land surface. Assessments of surface urban heat island (UHI) usually focused on using remote sensing and land cover data to quantify UHI intensity and spatial distribution within a certain period. However, the mechanisms and complex interactions in landscape...