Jesslyn Brown
Jesslyn Brown is a research geographer with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA. Jess's main interests involve improving our understanding of changes in terrestrial vegetation related to climate and other driving forces and advancing the use of remote sensing imagery in applications.
Jesslyn Brown is a research geographer with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA, where she has worked for 30 years. Since finishing her graduate program at the University of Nebraska—Lincoln in 1990, she has worked in applied geographic research utilizing remote sensing approaches. Jess’s main interests involve improving our understanding of changes in terrestrial vegetation related to climate and other driving forces and advancing the use of remotely sensed imagery for applications including drought early warning, tracking vegetation phenology (i.e., seasonal dynamics), and mapping land cover and land use. Jess was a member of the Global Land Cover Characteristics team that created the first map of global land cover at a 1-km resolution in the 1990s. From 2001 to 2017, she led multiple projects mainly focused on developing new monitoring tools to improve agricultural drought monitoring capabilities in the U.S. in a strong collaboration with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s National Drought Mitigation Center. During that time, she also led efforts to investigate recent land use change specifically focused on irrigated agriculture across the country. In 2017, she began a new role leading the Land Change Monitoring Assessment and Projection (LCMAP) science team. LCMAP is a relatively new USGS initiative developing an end-to-end capability to use the deep Landsat record to continuously track and characterize changes in land cover state and condition and translate the information into assessments of current and historical processes of cover and change.
Science and Products
Application-ready expedited MODIS data for operational land surface monitoring of vegetation condition
Assessing the vegetation condition impacts of the 2011 drought across the U.S. southern Great Plains using the vegetation drought response index (VegDRI)
Phenology and climate relationships in aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) forest and woodland communities of southwestern Colorado
Remote sensing of land surface phenology
Merging remote sensing data and national agricultural statistics to model change in irrigated agriculture
Variability and trends in irrigated and non-irrigated croplands in the central U.S
The Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI): An integration of satellite, climate, and biophysical data
Merging climate and multi-sensor time-series data in real-time drought monitoring across the U.S.A.
Drought Monitoring with VegDRI
Phenological classification of the United States: A geographic framework for extending multi-sensor time-series data
Mapping irrigated lands at 250-m scale by merging MODIS data and National Agricultural Statistics
Mapping irrigated lands across the United States using MODIS satellite imagery
Non-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
Remote Sensing Phenology
The Effects of Drought on Vegetation Phenology and Wildlife
Participated in these Eyes on Earth podcast episodes.
Science and Products
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Application-ready expedited MODIS data for operational land surface monitoring of vegetation condition
Monitoring systems benefit from high temporal frequency image data collected from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) system. Because of near-daily global coverage, MODIS data are beneficial to applications that require timely information about vegetation condition related to drought, flooding, or fire danger. Rapid satellite data streams in operational applications have cleaAuthorsJesslyn F. Brown, Daniel M. Howard, Bruce K. Wylie, Aaron M. Friesz, Lei Ji, Carolyn GackeAssessing the vegetation condition impacts of the 2011 drought across the U.S. southern Great Plains using the vegetation drought response index (VegDRI)
The vegetation drought response index (VegDRI), which combines traditional climate- and satellite-based approaches for assessing vegetation conditions, offers new insights into assessing the impacts of drought from local to regional scales. In 2011, the U.S. southern Great Plains, which includes Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, was plagued by moderate to extreme drought that was intensified by anAuthorsTsegaye Tadesse, Brian D. Wardlow, Jesslyn F. Brown, Mark Svoboda, Michael Hayes, Brian Fuchs, Denise GutzmerPhenology and climate relationships in aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) forest and woodland communities of southwestern Colorado
Trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) occurs over wide geographical, latitudinal, elevational, and environmental gradients, making it a favorable candidate for a study of phenology and climate relationships. Aspen forests and woodlands provide numerous ecosystem services, such as high primary productivity and biodiversity, retention and storage of environmental variables (precipitation, temAuthorsGretchen A. Meier, Jesslyn F. Brown, Ross J. Evelsizer, James E. VogelmannRemote sensing of land surface phenology
Remote sensing of land-surface phenology is an important method for studying the patterns of plant and animal growth cycles. Phenological events are sensitive to climate variation; therefore phenology data provide important baseline information documenting trends in ecology and detecting the impacts of climate change on multiple scales. The USGS Remote sensing of land surface phenology program proAuthorsG.A. Meier, Jesslyn F. BrownMerging remote sensing data and national agricultural statistics to model change in irrigated agriculture
Over 22 million hectares (ha) of U.S. croplands are irrigated. Irrigation is an intensified agricultural land use that increases crop yields and the practice affects water and energy cycles at, above, and below the land surface. Until recently, there has been a scarcity of geospatially detailed information about irrigation that is comprehensive, consistent, and timely to support studies tying agriAuthorsJesslyn F. Brown, Md Shahriar PervezVariability and trends in irrigated and non-irrigated croplands in the central U.S
Over 23 million hectares (233 thousand km2) of U.S. croplands are irrigated and there was an overall net expansion of 522 thousand hectares nationally from 2002 to 2007. Most of this expansion occurred across the High Plains Aquifer (HPA) in the central Great Plains. Until recently, there has been a lack of geospatially-detailed irrigation data that are consistent, timely, geographically extensiveAuthorsJesslyn F. Brown, Md Shahriar PervezThe Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI): An integration of satellite, climate, and biophysical data
No abstract available.AuthorsBrian D. Wardlow, Tsegaye Tadesse, Jesslyn F. Brown, Karin Callahan, Sharmistha Swain, Eric HuntMerging climate and multi-sensor time-series data in real-time drought monitoring across the U.S.A.
Droughts occur repeatedly in the United States resulting in billions of dollars of damage. Monitoring and reporting on drought conditions is a necessary function of government agencies at multiple levels. A team of Federal and university partners developed a drought decision- support tool with higher spatial resolution relative to traditional climate-based drought maps. The Vegetation Drought RespAuthorsJesslyn F. Brown, T. Miura, B. Wardlow, Yingxin GuDrought Monitoring with VegDRI
Drought strikes somewhere in the United States every year, turning green landscapes brown as precipitation falls below normal levels and water supplies dwindle. Drought is typically a temporary climatic aberration, but it is also an insidious natural hazard. It might last for weeks, months, or years and may have many negative effects. Drought can threaten crops, livestock, and livelihoods, stressAuthorsJesslyn F. BrownPhenological classification of the United States: A geographic framework for extending multi-sensor time-series data
This study introduces a new geographic framework, phenological classification, for the conterminous United States based on Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time-series data and a digital elevation model. The resulting pheno-class map is comprised of 40 pheno-classes, each having unique phenological and topographic characteristics.AuthorsYingxin Gu, Jesslyn F. Brown, Tomoaki Miura, Willem J.D. van Leeuwen, Bradley C. ReedMapping irrigated lands at 250-m scale by merging MODIS data and National Agricultural Statistics
Accurate geospatial information on the extent of irrigated land improves our understanding of agricultural water use, local land surface processes, conservation or depletion of water resources, and components of the hydrologic budget. We have developed a method in a geospatial modeling framework that assimilates irrigation statistics with remotely sensed parameters describing vegetation growth conAuthorsMd Shahriar Pervez, Jesslyn F. BrownMapping irrigated lands across the United States using MODIS satellite imagery
This book opens a new pathway for global mapping that is focused on a specific land use theme, such as irrigated or rain-fed croplands and classes within these themes. Since croplands use most of the water consumed by humans, specific knowledge of irrigated and rain-fed croplands will be critical for precise estimates of water use. At present and in the coming decades, irrigated and rain-fed croplAuthorsJ.F. Brown, S.K. Maxwell, Md Shahriar PervezNon-USGS Publications**
**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.
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Remote Sensing Phenology
Phenology is the study of plant and animal life cycles in relation to the seasons. EROS maintains a set of nine annual phenological metrics for the conterminous United States, all curated from satellite data. Taken together, the metrics represent a powerful tool for documenting life cycle trends and the impacts of climate change on ecosystems.The Effects of Drought on Vegetation Phenology and Wildlife
Plants and animals undergo certain life cycle events every year, such as breeding or flowering. Known as phenology, these events are very sensitive to changes in climate. Changes in plant phenology can have cascading effects that impact the herbivore species that depend on the affected plants for food, such as elk, moose, and deer. Therefore, characterizing long term vegetation cycles can provide - Data
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Participated in these Eyes on Earth podcast episodes.
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