Dean Gesch
Science and Products
Topographic Changes - Results Information
The primary result of the data processing explained in the Methods section is a polygon feature dataset that locates and describes the areas in the conterminous United States that have experienced significant topographic change during the 20th century.
Relevance for Anthropogenic Geomorphology
The product of this study is a broad-based inventory of specific topographic surface changes resulting from 20th century human geomorphic activity in the United States. Most other studies in anthropogenic geomorphology have concentrated on description and analysis of site-specific geomorphic changes caused by human activities or on comparison of the total effects of humans as geomorphic agents...
Primary Findings
he research conducted for this study has resulted in new geospatial datasets that locate and describe significant topographic surface changes in the conterminous United States. In addition, summary statistics and tabulations of changed areas have been produced for several different accounting and reporting units. These results should be useful for researchers working on land change at various...
SRTM NED Vertical Differencing
Image differencing has long been used as an effective change detection technique for coregistered digital remote sensing datasets. One image is simply subtracted from another image on a pixel-by-pixel basis. As applied to gridded DEMs, the result of image differencing is a differential surface, which is a measure of the spatial distribution of mass displacement. In a differential surface,...
Significant Topographic Changes in the United States
The USGS has developed a national inventory of significant topographic changes based on seamless multitemporal elevation data and land cover data. The National Elevation Dataset (NED) and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data form a unique pair of seamless elevation datasets that can be used to detect and analyze 20th century topographic surface changes in the United States.
Sea-Level Rise Vulnerability
The importance of sea-level rise in shaping coastal landscapes is well recognized within the earth science community, but as with many natural hazards, communicating the risks associated with sea-level rise remains a challenge.
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.