Jessica J Walker
Jessica started with the USGS as a Mendenhall Postdoctoral Researcher in 2014.
Jessica's broad research interests center on the analysis of landscape change using remote sensing data. Past projects have included tracking the vegetative trajectories of areas recovering from fire events, both in the semi-arid, high-elevation forests of Arizona and the boreal forests of Alaska. Additional recent work includes examining surface inundation patterns via Landsat and MODIS imagery as part of the PLACE project (Patterns in the Landscape - Analyses of Cause and Effect).
Science and Products
Investigation of Lidar Data Processing and Analysis in the Cloud
Lower technical and financial barriers have led to a proliferation of lidar point-cloud datasets acquired to support diverse USGS projects. The objective of this effort was to implement an open-source, cloud-based solution through USGS Cloud Hosting Solutions (CHS) that would address the needs of the growing USGS lidar community. We proposed to allow users to upload point-cloud datasets...
Patterns in the Landscape – Analyses of Cause and Effect
Understanding the rates and causes of land-use/land-cover (LULC) change helps answer questions about what, where, how, and why the Earth’s surface is changing. Land-surface change results from human activities or natural processes like floods, droughts, and wildfires, and many of these change processes are observable in satellite imagery. The growing historical catalog of satellite images allows...
Science and Products
Investigation of Lidar Data Processing and Analysis in the Cloud
Lower technical and financial barriers have led to a proliferation of lidar point-cloud datasets acquired to support diverse USGS projects. The objective of this effort was to implement an open-source, cloud-based solution through USGS Cloud Hosting Solutions (CHS) that would address the needs of the growing USGS lidar community. We proposed to allow users to upload point-cloud datasets...
Patterns in the Landscape – Analyses of Cause and Effect
Understanding the rates and causes of land-use/land-cover (LULC) change helps answer questions about what, where, how, and why the Earth’s surface is changing. Land-surface change results from human activities or natural processes like floods, droughts, and wildfires, and many of these change processes are observable in satellite imagery. The growing historical catalog of satellite images allows...