Daniel Foley is a geographer with the Western Geographic Science Center focused on remote sensing and geospatial analysis of croplands and water use to better understand crop water productivity to mitigate food and water insecurity in the 21st century.
Global Crop Water Productivity and Savings through waterSMART (GCWP)
Increased food production per unit of water or increasing water productivity (or “more crop per drop”; kg/m3) is expected to lead to a “blue revolution” in agriculture making a major contribution to global food and water security in the twenty-first century.
Global Food Security-Support Analysis Data at 30 m (GFSAD)

The GFSAD30 is a NASA funded project to provide high resolution global cropland data and their water use that contributes towards global food security in the twenty-first century. The GFSAD30 products are derived through multi-sensor remote sensing data (e.g., Landsat, MODIS, AVHRR), secondary data, and field-plot data and aims at documenting cropland dynamics.
Professional Experience
Daniel Foley is a geographer working for the USGS within the Western Geographic Science Center. He has a Master of Science (M.S.) in Applied Geospatial Sciences and a graduate certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from Northern Arizona University. His research interests include utilizing GIS, geospatial technology, and remote sensing to solve problems in Earth and environmental scien
Honors and Awards
2021 - Best presentation award: ICWSM007 2021: XV. International Conference on Water Security and Management. Istanbul, Turkey. June, 2021.
Abstracts and Presentations
Foley, D., Thenkabail, P.S.., Teluguntla, P., and Oliphant, A., 2021. Cloud-Based Evapotranspiration and Crop Water Productivity Model of Leading World Crops Using Landsat and Meteorological Data Computed with Google Earth Engine: A California Central Valley, USA Case Study. ICWSM007 2021: XV. International Conference on Water Security and Management. Istanbul, Turkey. June, 2021.
USGS Flagstaff Science Seminar: Foley, D. How to feed the planet with less water: Mapping crop water Productivity with Remote sensing. September 1, 2021
WGSC Science Seminar Talk: Foley, D. A cloud-based novel Crop Water Productivity (CWP) model of leading world crops in California’s Central Valley using Landsat and meteorological data computed on Google Earth Engine (GEE) Platform. September Sept 15, 2021
Flagstaff Festival of Science 2021 SCI Talks: Foley, D. How to grow more food with less water using Geographic Science. September 24, 2021