Dr. George Xian is a research physical scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey, Earth Resources Observation and Science Center. He researches the national land cover data development, land cover change, and land cover change impacts on climate and ecosystems using remote sensing information.
George has specialized in using multi-type remote sensing data to characterize land change and change assessment across the United States. He has also used Landsat thermal information to study urban thermal landscape change by collaborating with other researchers from U.S. Global Change Research Program and universities. He also has participated in the development of U.S. Fifth National Climate Assessment.
Science and Products
Filter Total Items: 70
Improving temporal frequency of Landsat surface temperature products using the gap-filling algorithm
Remotely sensed surface temperature (ST) has been widely used to monitor and assess landscape thermal conditions, hydrologic modeling, and surface energy balance. Landsat thermal sensors have continuously measured the Earth surface thermal radiance since August 1982. The thermal radiance measurements are atmospherically compensated and converted to Landsat STs and delivered as part of the U.S. Geo
Authors
George Xian, Hua Shi, Saeed Arab, Chase Mueller, Reza Hussain, Kristi Sayler, Danny Howard
Development of the LCMAP annual land cover product across Hawai'i
Following the completion of land cover and change (LCC) products for the conterminous United States (CONUS), the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS’s) Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection initiative has broadened the capability of characterizing continuous historical land change across the full Landsat records for Hawaiʻi at 30-meter resolution. One of the challenges of implementing the
Authors
Congcong Li, George Z. Xian, Danika F. Wellington, Kelcy Smith, Josephine Horton, Qiang Zhou
Tree regrowth duration map from LCMAP collection 1.0 land cover products in the conterminous United States, 1985–2017
Forest covers about one-third of the land area of the conterminous United States (CONUS) and plays an important role in offsetting carbon emissions and supporting local economies. Growing interest in forests as relatively cost-effective nature-based climate solutions, particularly restoration and reforestation activities, has increased the demand for information on forest regrowth and recovery fol
Authors
Qiang Zhou, George Z. Xian, Josephine Horton, Danika F. Wellington, Grant Domke, Roger F. Auch, Congcong Li, Zhe Zhu
Conterminous United States land-cover change (1985-2016): New insights from annual time series
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 time interval
Authors
Roger F. Auch, Danika Fay Wellington, Janis L. Taylor, Stephen V Stehman, Heather J. Tollerud, Jesslyn F. Brown, Thomas Loveland, Bruce Pengra, Josephine Horton, Zhe Zhu, Alemayehu Midekisa, Kristi Sayler, George Xian, Christopher Barnes, Ryan R. Reker
A novel regression method for harmonic analysis of time series
Harmonic analysis of time series is an important technique in remote sensing to reveal seasonal land surface dynamics. However, frequency selection in the harmonic analysis is often difficult because high-frequency components are useful for delineating seasonal dynamics but sensitive to noise and gaps in time series. On the other hand, it is challenging to obtain temporally continuous satellite da
Authors
Qiang Zhou, Zhe Zhu, George Z. Xian, Congcong Li
Implementation of the CCDC algorithm to produce the LCMAP Collection 1.0 annual land surface change product
The increasing availability of high-quality remote sensing data and advanced technologies have spurred land cover mapping to characterize land change from local to global scales. However, most land change datasets either span multiple decades at a local scale or cover limited time over a larger geographic extent. Here, we present a new land cover and land surface change dataset created by the Land
Authors
George Z. Xian, Kelcy Smith, Danika F. Wellington, Josephine Horton, Qiang Zhou, Congcong Li, Roger F. Auch, Jesslyn F. Brown, Zhe Zhu, Ryan R. Reker
Monitoring multi-decadal variations of urban heat island intensity
Urban development and associated land cover transitions alter the thermal and physical properties of the land surface, resulting the temperature in urban area higher than in rural area or urban heat island (UHI). Remote sensing and land cover data is usually used to assess UHI intensity and temporal change trends. In this study, we implemented a prototype approach to characterize the UHI intensity
Authors
George Z. Xian, Hua Shi, Kevin Gallo
Monitoring and characterizing multi-decadal variations of urban thermal condition using time-series thermal remote sensing and dynamic land cover data
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 dynamics and
Authors
George Z. Xian, Hua Shi, Qiang Zhou, Roger F. Auch, Kevin Gallo, Zhuoting Wu, Michael Kolian
A novel automatic phenology learning (APL) method of training sample selection using multiple datasets for time-series land cover mapping
The long record of Landsat imagery, which is the cornerstone of Earth observation, provides an opportunity to monitor land use and land cover (LULC) change and understand the interactions between the climate and earth system through time. A few change detection algorithms such as Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC) have been developed to utilize all available Landsat images for c
Authors
Congcong Li, George Z. Xian, Qiang Zhou, Bruce Pengra
Urban heat island and its regional impacts using remotely sensed thermal data – A review of recent developments and methodology
Many novel research algorithms have been developed to analyze urban heat island (UHI) and UHI regional impacts (UHIRIP) with remotely sensed thermal data tables. We present a comprehensive review of some important aspects of UHI and UHIRIP studies that use remotely sensed thermal data, including concepts, datasets, methodologies, and applications. We focus on reviewing progress on multi-sensor ima
Authors
Hua Shi, George Z. Xian, Roger F. Auch, Kevin Gallo, Qiang Zhou
Land surface temperature differences between natural and artificial turf sports fields as estimated from satellite: Examples from the United States and Europe
An increasing number of sports fields around the world are equipped with artificial turf. This solution has been endorsed by numerous sports federations, despite concerns about the potential for injuries and higher surface temperatures. In this work we analyzed land surface temperature in 4 pairs of natural and artificial turf sports fields in Europe and the United States using Landsat-8 data. Sur
Authors
Vasco M. Mantas, George Z. Xian
U.S. Geological Survey landscape science strategy 2020–2030
Across our Nation, multiple Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments are working with stakeholders and landowners to restore, conserve, and manage lands and resources to benefit fish, wildlife, and people. One of the largest Federal efforts is led by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), with multiple DOI agencies working to conserve and manage public lands, resources, and cultural herit
Authors
Karen E. Jenni, Sarah K. Carter, Nicholas G. Aumen, Zachary H. Bowen, John B. Bradford, Michael A. Chotkowski, Leslie Hsu, Peter S. Murdoch, Scott W. Phillips, Kevin L. Pope, Rudy Schuster, Melanie J. Steinkamp, Jake Weltzin, George Xian
Assessing the Vulnerability of Dryland Ecosystems to Drought in the Western U.S.
In the western U.S., rising temperatures and pronounced drought conditions pose significant challenges to public land managers. Widespread declines of multiple plant species have already been observed, providing insight into what the future could look like for vegetation in the region as conditions are projected to become warmer and drier. To understand how vulnerable western ecosystems are to dro
Land surface thermal feature change monitoring in urban and urban wild land interface (ver. 3.0, August 2020)
We developed an approach to quantify Urban Heat Island (UHI) extent and intensity in selected metropolitan areas in the United States by using Landsat surface temperature product in a time series manner. Landsat land surface temperature from Landsat Analysis Ready Data (ARD) were used to quantify surface temperature and change from 1985 to the current. These data were used to calculate the tempera
Science and Products
- Publications
Filter Total Items: 70
Improving temporal frequency of Landsat surface temperature products using the gap-filling algorithm
Remotely sensed surface temperature (ST) has been widely used to monitor and assess landscape thermal conditions, hydrologic modeling, and surface energy balance. Landsat thermal sensors have continuously measured the Earth surface thermal radiance since August 1982. The thermal radiance measurements are atmospherically compensated and converted to Landsat STs and delivered as part of the U.S. GeoAuthorsGeorge Xian, Hua Shi, Saeed Arab, Chase Mueller, Reza Hussain, Kristi Sayler, Danny HowardDevelopment of the LCMAP annual land cover product across Hawai'i
Following the completion of land cover and change (LCC) products for the conterminous United States (CONUS), the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS’s) Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection initiative has broadened the capability of characterizing continuous historical land change across the full Landsat records for Hawaiʻi at 30-meter resolution. One of the challenges of implementing theAuthorsCongcong Li, George Z. Xian, Danika F. Wellington, Kelcy Smith, Josephine Horton, Qiang ZhouTree regrowth duration map from LCMAP collection 1.0 land cover products in the conterminous United States, 1985–2017
Forest covers about one-third of the land area of the conterminous United States (CONUS) and plays an important role in offsetting carbon emissions and supporting local economies. Growing interest in forests as relatively cost-effective nature-based climate solutions, particularly restoration and reforestation activities, has increased the demand for information on forest regrowth and recovery folAuthorsQiang Zhou, George Z. Xian, Josephine Horton, Danika F. Wellington, Grant Domke, Roger F. Auch, Congcong Li, Zhe ZhuConterminous United States land-cover change (1985-2016): New insights from annual time series
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 time intervalAuthorsRoger F. Auch, Danika Fay Wellington, Janis L. Taylor, Stephen V Stehman, Heather J. Tollerud, Jesslyn F. Brown, Thomas Loveland, Bruce Pengra, Josephine Horton, Zhe Zhu, Alemayehu Midekisa, Kristi Sayler, George Xian, Christopher Barnes, Ryan R. RekerA novel regression method for harmonic analysis of time series
Harmonic analysis of time series is an important technique in remote sensing to reveal seasonal land surface dynamics. However, frequency selection in the harmonic analysis is often difficult because high-frequency components are useful for delineating seasonal dynamics but sensitive to noise and gaps in time series. On the other hand, it is challenging to obtain temporally continuous satellite daAuthorsQiang Zhou, Zhe Zhu, George Z. Xian, Congcong LiImplementation of the CCDC algorithm to produce the LCMAP Collection 1.0 annual land surface change product
The increasing availability of high-quality remote sensing data and advanced technologies have spurred land cover mapping to characterize land change from local to global scales. However, most land change datasets either span multiple decades at a local scale or cover limited time over a larger geographic extent. Here, we present a new land cover and land surface change dataset created by the LandAuthorsGeorge Z. Xian, Kelcy Smith, Danika F. Wellington, Josephine Horton, Qiang Zhou, Congcong Li, Roger F. Auch, Jesslyn F. Brown, Zhe Zhu, Ryan R. RekerMonitoring multi-decadal variations of urban heat island intensity
Urban development and associated land cover transitions alter the thermal and physical properties of the land surface, resulting the temperature in urban area higher than in rural area or urban heat island (UHI). Remote sensing and land cover data is usually used to assess UHI intensity and temporal change trends. In this study, we implemented a prototype approach to characterize the UHI intensityAuthorsGeorge Z. Xian, Hua Shi, Kevin GalloMonitoring and characterizing multi-decadal variations of urban thermal condition using time-series thermal remote sensing and dynamic land cover data
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 dynamics andAuthorsGeorge Z. Xian, Hua Shi, Qiang Zhou, Roger F. Auch, Kevin Gallo, Zhuoting Wu, Michael KolianA novel automatic phenology learning (APL) method of training sample selection using multiple datasets for time-series land cover mapping
The long record of Landsat imagery, which is the cornerstone of Earth observation, provides an opportunity to monitor land use and land cover (LULC) change and understand the interactions between the climate and earth system through time. A few change detection algorithms such as Continuous Change Detection and Classification (CCDC) have been developed to utilize all available Landsat images for cAuthorsCongcong Li, George Z. Xian, Qiang Zhou, Bruce PengraUrban heat island and its regional impacts using remotely sensed thermal data – A review of recent developments and methodology
Many novel research algorithms have been developed to analyze urban heat island (UHI) and UHI regional impacts (UHIRIP) with remotely sensed thermal data tables. We present a comprehensive review of some important aspects of UHI and UHIRIP studies that use remotely sensed thermal data, including concepts, datasets, methodologies, and applications. We focus on reviewing progress on multi-sensor imaAuthorsHua Shi, George Z. Xian, Roger F. Auch, Kevin Gallo, Qiang ZhouLand surface temperature differences between natural and artificial turf sports fields as estimated from satellite: Examples from the United States and Europe
An increasing number of sports fields around the world are equipped with artificial turf. This solution has been endorsed by numerous sports federations, despite concerns about the potential for injuries and higher surface temperatures. In this work we analyzed land surface temperature in 4 pairs of natural and artificial turf sports fields in Europe and the United States using Landsat-8 data. SurAuthorsVasco M. Mantas, George Z. XianU.S. Geological Survey landscape science strategy 2020–2030
Across our Nation, multiple Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments are working with stakeholders and landowners to restore, conserve, and manage lands and resources to benefit fish, wildlife, and people. One of the largest Federal efforts is led by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), with multiple DOI agencies working to conserve and manage public lands, resources, and cultural heritAuthorsKaren E. Jenni, Sarah K. Carter, Nicholas G. Aumen, Zachary H. Bowen, John B. Bradford, Michael A. Chotkowski, Leslie Hsu, Peter S. Murdoch, Scott W. Phillips, Kevin L. Pope, Rudy Schuster, Melanie J. Steinkamp, Jake Weltzin, George Xian - Science
Assessing the Vulnerability of Dryland Ecosystems to Drought in the Western U.S.
In the western U.S., rising temperatures and pronounced drought conditions pose significant challenges to public land managers. Widespread declines of multiple plant species have already been observed, providing insight into what the future could look like for vegetation in the region as conditions are projected to become warmer and drier. To understand how vulnerable western ecosystems are to dro - Data
Land surface thermal feature change monitoring in urban and urban wild land interface (ver. 3.0, August 2020)
We developed an approach to quantify Urban Heat Island (UHI) extent and intensity in selected metropolitan areas in the United States by using Landsat surface temperature product in a time series manner. Landsat land surface temperature from Landsat Analysis Ready Data (ARD) were used to quantify surface temperature and change from 1985 to the current. These data were used to calculate the tempera