Click "Science" above to see how we track change over time.
Every pixel tells a story.
That’s because a Landsat pixel is more than a speck of satellite data. It’s a piece of ground on planet Earth. Ground that changes with the seasons, though the years, through assault by rapid disaster or the slow churn of natural cycles. Cities grow. Forests burn, then return. Lakes and rivers swell and shift.
That work of the USGS Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) initiative takes place with this understanding top of mind. Its datasets use Landsat information to follow the land cover and change story of every pixel in the conterminous United States, year by year, from 1985 on.
In doing so, LCMAP data products open the door to a deeper understanding of our nation. Its deep time series approach also offers guidance to satellite-based land cover science, helping the research community to improve land cover mapping for the entire planet.
LCMAP Change Stories are designed to offer a small window into the wealth of possible inquiry made possible by the initiative’s approach to land cover mapping.
Click “Related Science” to explore these stories. You’ll see the impact of hurricanes and tornadoes, urban sprawl and industrial expansion, landslides and erosion, and much more. Check back for more stories as the months pass, and be sure to follow USGS EROS on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for news and updates.
Follow the links to see each LCMAP Change Story
LCMAP Change Stories: Sequoias under Siege, Progression of a Wildfire
LCMAP Change Stories: Where the Forests Fall, the Grasses Grow
LCMAP Change Stories: Outfitting the Ozarks
LCMAP Change Stories: Crops Give Way to Concrete
LCMAP Change Stories: Where the Ocean Eats the Land
LCMAP Change Stories: Building a Boomtown, Block by Block
LCMAP Change Stories: Gone in 60 Seconds
LCMAP Change Stories: It's a Sprawl World After All
LCMAP Change Stories: Hurricanes in the Everglades
LCMAP Change Stories: Alabama Tornadoes
- Overview
Click "Science" above to see how we track change over time.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Land cover animation of growth in the Palm Springs, CA area. Every pixel tells a story.
That’s because a Landsat pixel is more than a speck of satellite data. It’s a piece of ground on planet Earth. Ground that changes with the seasons, though the years, through assault by rapid disaster or the slow churn of natural cycles. Cities grow. Forests burn, then return. Lakes and rivers swell and shift.
That work of the USGS Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) initiative takes place with this understanding top of mind. Its datasets use Landsat information to follow the land cover and change story of every pixel in the conterminous United States, year by year, from 1985 on.
In doing so, LCMAP data products open the door to a deeper understanding of our nation. Its deep time series approach also offers guidance to satellite-based land cover science, helping the research community to improve land cover mapping for the entire planet.
LCMAP Change Stories are designed to offer a small window into the wealth of possible inquiry made possible by the initiative’s approach to land cover mapping.
Click “Related Science” to explore these stories. You’ll see the impact of hurricanes and tornadoes, urban sprawl and industrial expansion, landslides and erosion, and much more. Check back for more stories as the months pass, and be sure to follow USGS EROS on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for news and updates.
- Science
Follow the links to see each LCMAP Change Story
LCMAP Change Stories: Sequoias under Siege, Progression of a Wildfire
Sequoia National Park encompasses over 400,000 acres across the Sierra Nevada mountains. The park’s giant old growth sequoias are the largest trees in the world, growing 30 feet (9.1 m) in diameter and 250 feet (76.2 m) tall over their 3,000-year lifespans.LCMAP Change Stories: Where the Forests Fall, the Grasses Grow
The forests and rangelands of the Western U.S. face fire dangers on multiple fronts. The trees themselves provide fuel for wildfires, of course, but there are additional factors at play in this mountainous, forested stretch of land at the Idaho-Montana border.LCMAP Change Stories: Outfitting the Ozarks
The meandering shoreline is the claim to fame for the Midwestern tourist oasis that is Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri. The Missouri Division of Tourism’s website leads its page on the state’s most popular visitor destination by noting that the lake’s 1,100 miles of freshwater coast are more than even California has to offer.LCMAP Change Stories: Crops Give Way to Concrete
Less than 15 miles separate the city of Plainfield from the nearby metropolis of Indianapolis, the capital of Indiana and the state’s largest urban center.LCMAP Change Stories: Where the Ocean Eats the Land
The unincorporated hamlet of North Cove, WA is the owner of a rather unfortunate superlative: fastest-eroding place in the West Coast.LCMAP Change Stories: Building a Boomtown, Block by Block
The desert outpost of Palm Springs, California and the surrounding Thousand Palms region has experienced explosive population growth over the past four decades, with tract after tract of development filling in previously barren landscapes along Interstate 10.LCMAP Change Stories: Gone in 60 Seconds
At first glance, the most striking patterns in land cover change over time in this animation of the Oso, Washington area would appear to be forest harvest and regrowth, but a more dramatic change emerged in 2014.LCMAP Change Stories: It's a Sprawl World After All
The man-made Florida playland of Walt Disney World has grown outward on all sides since the amusement park’s construction commenced in the 1960s. Much of that growth has overtaken the wetlands, tree cover and grassland/shrublands near Orlando.LCMAP Change Stories: Hurricanes in the Everglades
When Atlantic hurricanes make landfall in south Florida, the coastal marshes and mangrove forests of the Everglades often act as a buffer that protects residents from rising sea levels, high winds and storm surge.LCMAP Change Stories: Alabama Tornadoes
The USGS Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection initiative aims to identify where the landscape is changing and why. - Web Tools