Dean Gesch
Science and Products
Ranking Features Based on Magnitude of Change
Each of the polygons in the topographic change inventory has numerous attributes associated with it. These attributes allow a ranking of features based on the magnitude of change, as measured by polygon descriptors (area and volume) and changes in terrain parameters (elevation, relief, slope, aspect). The ability to do such a ranking points out one of the advantages of producing spatially...
Quadrangle Base Maps
Many resource managers and geospatial data users are familiar with the USGS 7.5-minute quadrangle map series. Also, much of the geospatial data managed by the USGS was originally produced in tiles corresponding to the 7.5-minute maps. The topographic map quadrangles are still commonly used as base maps for outlining data collection strategies and defining project boundaries. Thus, it is useful...
1x1-Degree Tiles
Summary statistics were also accumulated on the basis of the 1x1-degree tiles used for data management and processing. A total of 500 tiles contain topographic change polygons (see figure below), which represents over 53 percent of the conterminous United States tiles.
Regional Geography of Topographic Surface Changes
The spatial distribution of the topographic change polygons across the conterminous United States reveals some notable regional differences and patterns of change. Overall, there is a decided concentration of change polygons in the eastern United States, which can be partially explained by the greater population density as compared to the west.
Proximity of Topographic Change Areas to Other Features
The near-national extent of the topographic change dataset also allows for spatial comparisons, such as proximity of change polygons to roads and urban areas. Such comparisons have been done for the proximity of mines to roads and major cities for the five focus ecoregions. This figure shows the locations of the centroids of mining polygons within the five ecoregions and the locations of...
Regional Differences in the Effects of Surface Mining
Because the topographic change inventory has near-national coverage, comparisons can be made among broad regions. This figure shows a set of five Level III ecoregions that were used as a basis for regional comparisons of topographic change.
Visual Impacts
When contrasting the general nature of anthropogenic processes versus other geomorphic agents, the visual impact of human activity generally is greater than that of natural processes.
Hydrologic Effects
Because the shape of the land exerts strong control over the collection and flow of surface water, changes to the topography can have a significant effect on local drainage conditions. The figure below demonstrates how the local surface drainage features have been altered as a result of surface mining operations.
Comparison with Land Cover Status and Trends Data
The topographic changes detected in this study usually have a corresponding land cover change. To examine this relationship more closely, features in the topographic change inventory were compared with data from an ongoing study of the status and trends of land cover in the United States. The status and trends project uses a sampling-based approach in which land cover maps and change products...
Error Sources, Uncertainty, Limitations, and Uses
In a study such as this one, with diverse input datasets that cover a broad area, data characteristics and quality can have spatially varying effects on derived information. In the context of data processing methods, unique characteristics of both the NED and SRTM data had to be accounted for in the processing approach to reduce errors of commission. While it is desirable to have a final...
Managed Areas
A delineation of managed areas (Federal, State, tribal, and military lands) from the USGS National Atlas was overlaid on the topographic change inventory. Note that this representation of managed lands is from a small-scale map source and does not include all Federal lands, while others are generalized. About 11 percent of the change polygons fall within the general boundaries of the managed...
Counties
Because so many other statistics and phenomena are reported and mapped on a county basis, they are a useful accounting unit with which to view the occurrences of topographic change. The counties that contain topographic change polygons are shown below. A total of 1,170 counties contain change polygons, which represents 37.6 percent of the counties in the conterminous United States. In some...
Best practices for elevation-based assessments of sea-level rise and coastal flooding exposure
Elevation data are critical for assessments of sea-level rise (SLR) and coastal flooding exposure. Previous research has demonstrated that the quality of data used in elevation-based assessments must be well understood and applied to properly model potential impacts. The cumulative vertical uncertainty of the input elevation data substantially...
Gesch, Dean B. The National Elevation Dataset
The National Elevation Dataset (NED) is a primary elevation data product that has been produced and distributed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Since its inception, the USGS has compiled and published topographic information in many forms, and the NED is a significant development in this long line of products that describe the land surface....
Gesch, Dean B.; Evans, Gayla A.; Oimoen, Michael J.; Arundel, Samantha
Coastal National Elevation Database
The Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) Applications Project develops enhanced topographic (land elevation) and bathymetric (water depth) datasets that serve as valuable resources for coastal hazards research (Danielson and others, 2016; Thatcher and others, 2016). These datasets are used widely for mapping inundation zones from riverine...
Danielson, Jeffrey J.; Poppenga, Sandra K.; Tyler, Dean J.; Palaseanu-Lovejoy, Monica; Gesch, Dean B. Introduction: Special issue on advances in topobathymetric mapping, models, and applications
Detailed knowledge of near-shore topography and bathymetry is required for many geospatial data applications in the coastal environment. New data sources and processing methods are facilitating development of seamless, regional-scale topobathymetric digital elevation models. These elevation models integrate disparate multi-sensor, multi-temporal...
Gesch, Dean B.; Brock, John C.; Parrish, Christopher E.; Rogers, Jeffrey N.; Wright, C. Wayne Topobathymetric elevation model development using a new methodology: Coastal National Elevation Database
During the coming decades, coastlines will respond to widely predicted sea-level rise, storm surge, and coastalinundation flooding from disastrous events. Because physical processes in coastal environments are controlled by the geomorphology of over-the-land topography and underwater bathymetry, many applications of geospatial data in coastal...
Danielson, Jeffrey J.; Poppenga, Sandra K.; Brock, John C.; Evans, Gayla A.; Tyler, Dean J.; Gesch, Dean B.; Thatcher, Cindy A.; Barras, John Creating a Coastal National Elevation Database (CoNED) for science and conservation applications
The U.S. Geological Survey is creating the Coastal National Elevation Database, an expanding set of topobathymetric elevation models that extend seamlessly across coastal regions of high societal or ecological significance in the United States that are undergoing rapid change or are threatened by inundation hazards. Topobathymetric elevation...
Thatcher, Cindy A.; Brock, John C.; Danielson, Jeffrey J.; Poppenga, Sandra K.; Gesch, Dean B.; Palaseanu-Lovejoy, Monica; Barras, John; Evans, Gayla A.; Gibbs, Ann Validation of the ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model version 3 over the conterminous United States
The ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model Version 3 (GDEM v3) was evaluated over the conterminous United States in a manner similar to the validation conducted for the original GDEM Version 1 (v1) in 2009 and GDEM Version 2 (v2) in 2011. The absolute vertical accuracy of GDEM v3 was calculated by comparison with more than 23,000 independent...
Halounova, L; Šafář, V.; Jiang, J.; Olešovská, H.; Dvořáček, P.; Holland, D.; Seredovich, V.A.; Muller, J.P.; Pattabhi Rama Rao, E.; Veenendaal, B.; Mu, L.; Zlatanova, S.; Oberst, J.; Yang, C.P.; Ban, Y.; Stylianidis, S.; Voženílek, V.; Vondráková, A.; Gartner, G.; Remondino, F.; Doytsher, Y.; Percivall, George; Schreier, G.; Dowman, I.; Streilein, A.; Ernst, J.; Gesch, Dean B.; Oimoen, Michael J.; Danielson, Jeffrey J.; Meyer, David Evaluation of dynamic coastal response to sea-level rise modifies inundation likelihood
Sea-level rise (SLR) poses a range of threats to natural and built environments1, 2, making assessments of SLR-induced hazards essential for informed decision making3. We develop a probabilistic model that evaluates the likelihood that an area will inundate (flood) or dynamically respond (adapt) to SLR. The broad-area applicability of the approach...
Lentz, Erika E.; Thieler, E. Robert; Plant, Nathaniel G.; Stippa, Sawyer R.; Horton, Radley M.; Gesch, Dean B.
Evaluating coastal landscape response to sea-level rise in the northeastern United States: approach and methods
The U.S. Geological Survey is examining effects of future sea-level rise on the coastal landscape from Maine to Virginia by producing spatially explicit, probabilistic predictions using sea-level projections, vertical land movement rates (due to isostacy), elevation data, and land-cover data. Sea-level-rise scenarios used as model inputs are...
Lentz, Erika E.; Stippa, Sawyer R.; Thieler, E. Robert; Plant, Nathaniel G.; Gesch, Dean B.; Horton, Radley M.
Accuracy assessment of the U.S. Geological Survey National Elevation Dataset, and comparison with other large-area elevation datasets: SRTM and ASTER
The National Elevation Dataset (NED) is the primary elevation data product produced and distributed by the U.S. Geological Survey. The NED provides seamless raster elevation data of the conterminous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. island territories, Mexico, and Canada. The NED is derived from diverse source datasets that are processed to a...
Gesch, Dean B.; Oimoen, Michael J.; Evans, Gayla A. Effects of sea-level rise on barrier island groundwater system dynamics: ecohydrological implications
We used a numerical model to investigate how a barrier island groundwater system responds to increases of up to 60 cm in sea level. We found that a sea-level rise of 20 cm leads to substantial changes in the depth of the water table and the extent and depth of saltwater intrusion, which are key determinants in the establishment, distribution and...
Masterson, John P.; Fienen, Michael N.; Thieler, E. Robert; Gesch, Dean B.; Gutierrez, Benjamin T.; Plant, Nathaniel G.
U.S. Geological Survey core science systems strategy: characterizing, synthesizing, and understanding the critical zone through a modular science framework
Executive SummaryCore Science Systems is a new mission of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that resulted from the 2007 Science Strategy, “Facing Tomorrow’s Challenges: U.S. Geological Survey Science in the Decade 2007–2017.” This report describes the Core Science Systems vision and outlines a strategy to facilitate integrated characterization and...
Bristol, R. Sky; Euliss, Ned H.; Booth, Nathaniel L.; Burkardt, Nina; Diffendorfer, Jay E.; Gesch, Dean B.; McCallum, Brian E.; Miller, David M.; Morman, Suzette A.; Poore, Barbara S.; Signell, Richard P.; Viger, Roland J.
EROS Staff Provide Elevation Expertise to Mangrove Project on Pohnpei
In 1850, the island of Nahlapenlohd in Micronesia was sprawling enough to support a great battle among warring chiefdoms within its sizeable coconut forest. But that was then. Today, Nahlapenlohd and seven nearby islands in the western Pacific are no more, having been swallowed by the rising sea.
CoNED Measures Elevation, Helps Model Inundation Scenarios at Hawaiian Cultural Site
In the land of Kamehameha, south of Kona on the big island of Hawaii, a sacred landscape called Puʻuhonua O Hōnaunau faces the uncertainty of the rising seas.
The bones of royal chiefs rest there. Stories of how ancient Hawaiian lawbreakers flocked to this place of refuge still resonate throughout the 180-acre national historic park that surrounds Hōnaunau Bay.
Coastal Storm Modeling System Relies on Elevation Data Provided by CoNED, EROS
With sea levels rising and storms increasingly threatening their shorelines and cliffs, officials in Southern California face some difficult decisions.