Melanie Vanderhoof is a Research Geographer with the USGS, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center in Denver, CO. Her research focuses on using satellite imagery to understand how ecosystems change over time. She is particularly interested in surface water dynamics and disturbance events, such as fire and insect outbreaks.
Professional Experience
U.S. Geological Survey as a research geographer in 2015
ORISE Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development
Education and Certifications
PhD in Geography from Clark University in 2014
M.S. degree in Geography from San Francisco State University in 2007
B.S. degree in Biology and Society from Cornell University in 2004
Science and Products
Climate-Driven Connectivity Between Prairie-Pothole and Riparian Wetlands in the Upper Mississippi River Watershed: Implications for Wildlife Habitat and Water Quality
Drought and Disturbances as Drivers of Long-Term Ecological Transformation and Risk
North American Analysis and Synthesis on the Connectivity of "Geographically Isolated Wetlands" to Downstream Waters
The Landsat Collection 2 Burned Area Products for the conterminous United States
Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 based frequency of open and vegetated water across the United States (2017-2021)
Changes in wildfire occurrence and risk to homes from 1990 through 2019 in the Southern Rocky Mountains, USA (data release)
Contemporary fire history metrics for the conterminous United States (1984 - 2022) (ver. 2.0, March 2023)
Wind turbine wakes can impact down-wind vegetation greenness
Wetland burned area extent derived from Sentinel-2 across the southeastern U.S. (2016-2019)
The Landsat Burned Area products for the conterminous United States (ver. 3.0, March 2022)
Data release for tracking rates of post-fire conifer regeneration distinct from deciduous vegetation recovery across the western U.S.
Data Release for the validation of the USGS Landsat Burned Area Product across the conterminous U.S.
Tracking disturbance and inundation to identify wetland loss
Data release for Influence of multi-decadal land use, irrigation practices and climate on riparian corridors across the Upper Missouri River headwaters basin, Montana
Data release for it matters when you measure it: using snow-cover Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to isolate post-fire conifer regeneration
High-frequency time series comparison of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 for open and vegetated water across the United States (2017-2021)
Changes in wildfire occurrence and risk to homes from 1990 through 2019 in the Southern Rocky Mountains, USA
GCPs free photogrammetry for estimating tree height and crown diameter in Arizona cypress plantation using UAV-Mounted GNSS RTK
Contemporary (1984–2020) fire history metrics for the conterminous United States and ecoregional differences by land ownership
Wind turbine wakes can impact down-wind vegetation greenness
Vulnerable waters are essential to watershed resilience
Mapping wetland burned area from Sentinel-2 across the southeastern United States and its contributions relative to Landsat 8 (2016-2019)
Using the landsat burned area products to derive fire history relevant for fire management and conservation in the state of Florida, southeastern USA
New operational national satellite burned area product
Development of a standard database of reference sites for validating global burned area products
Tracking rates of postfire conifer regeneration vs. deciduous vegetation recovery across the western United States
Isolating anthropogenic wetland loss by concurrently tracking inundation and land cover disturbance across the Mid-Atlantic Region, U.S.
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.
Science and Products
- Science
Climate-Driven Connectivity Between Prairie-Pothole and Riparian Wetlands in the Upper Mississippi River Watershed: Implications for Wildlife Habitat and Water Quality
Wetland conservation in the Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB) is a priority for Federal, State, NGO, and Tribal land managers to support migratory bird habitat in Minnesota and Iowa. These wetlands, known as depressional wetlands, also provide ecosystem services associated with flood water storage and enhancing down-stream water quality by storing and processing nutrients. Understanding how conDrought and Disturbances as Drivers of Long-Term Ecological Transformation and Risk
Forested areas in the Western U.S. that are impacted by disturbances such as fire and drought have increased in recent decades. This trend is likely to continue, with the increase in frequency and extent of wildfire activity being especially concerning. Resource managers need reliable scientific information to better understand wildfire occurrence, which can vary substantially across landscapes anNorth American Analysis and Synthesis on the Connectivity of "Geographically Isolated Wetlands" to Downstream Waters
Geographically Isolated Wetlands (GIWs) occur along gradients of hydrologic and ecological connectivity and isolation, even within wetland types (e.g., forested, emergent marshes) and functional classes (e.g., ephemeral systems, permanent systems, etc.). Within a given watershed, the relative positions of wetlands and open-waters along these gradients influence the type and magnitude of their che - Data
Filter Total Items: 17
The Landsat Collection 2 Burned Area Products for the conterminous United States
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed and implemented an algorithm that identifies burned areas in temporally dense time series of Landsat Analysis Ready Data (ARD) scenes to produce the Landsat Burned Area Products. The algorithm makes use of predictors derived from individual ARD Landsat scenes, lagged reference conditions, and change metrics between the scene and reference conditions.Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 based frequency of open and vegetated water across the United States (2017-2021)
High-frequency observations of surface water at fine spatial scales are critical to effectively manage aquatic habitat, flood risk and water quality. We developed inundation algorithms for Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 across 12 sites within the conterminous United States (CONUS) covering greater than 536,000 km2 and representing diverse hydrologic and vegetation landscapes. These algorithms were traiChanges in wildfire occurrence and risk to homes from 1990 through 2019 in the Southern Rocky Mountains, USA (data release)
Wildfires and housing development have increased since the 1990s, presenting unique challenges for fire management. However, it is unclear how the relative influences of housing growth and changing wildfire occurrence have contributed to risk to homes. We fit a random forest using weather, land cover, topography, and past fire history to predict burn probabilities and uncertainty intervals. Then,Contemporary fire history metrics for the conterminous United States (1984 - 2022) (ver. 2.0, March 2023)
Fire history metrics enable rapidly increasing amounts of burned area data to be collapsed into a handful of data layers that can be used efficiently by diverse stakeholders. In this effort, the U.S. Geological Survey Landsat Burned Area product was used to identify burned area across CONUS over a 39-year period (1984-2022). The Landsat BA product was consolidated into a suite of annual BA productWind turbine wakes can impact down-wind vegetation greenness
Global wind energy has expanded 5-fold since 2010 and is predicted to expand another 8�10-fold over the next 30 years. Wakes generated by wind turbines can alter downwind microclimates and potentially downwind vegetation. However, the design of past studies has made it difficult to isolate the impact of wake effects on vegetation from land cover change. We used hourly wind data to model wake and nWetland burned area extent derived from Sentinel-2 across the southeastern U.S. (2016-2019)
Wildfires and prescribed fires are frequent but under-mapped across wetlands of the southeastern United States . High annual precipitation supports rapid post-fire recovery of wetland vegetation, while associated cloud cover limits clear-sky observations. In addition, the low burn severity of prescribed fires and spectral confusion between fluctuating water levels and burned areas have resulted inThe Landsat Burned Area products for the conterminous United States (ver. 3.0, March 2022)
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed and implemented an algorithm that identifies burned areas in temporally-dense time series of Landsat Analysis Ready Data (ARD) scenes to produce the Landsat Burned Area Products. The algorithm makes use of predictors derived from individual ARD Landsat scenes, lagged reference conditions, and change metrics between the scene and reference conditions.Data release for tracking rates of post-fire conifer regeneration distinct from deciduous vegetation recovery across the western U.S.
Post-fire shifts in vegetation composition will have broad ecological impacts. However, information characterizing post-fire recovery patterns and their drivers are lacking over large spatial extents. In this analysis we used Landsat imagery collected when snow cover (SCS) was present, in combination with growing season (GS) imagery, to distinguish evergreen vegetation from deciduous vegetation. WData Release for the validation of the USGS Landsat Burned Area Product across the conterminous U.S.
Complete and accurate burned area map data are needed to document spatial and temporal patterns of fires, to quantify their drivers, and to assess the impacts on human and natural systems. In this study, we developed the Landsat Burned Area (BA) algorithm, an update from the Landsat Burned Area Essential Climate Variable (BAECV) algorithm. We present the BA algorithm and products, changes relativeTracking disturbance and inundation to identify wetland loss
Global trends in wetland degradation and loss have created an urgency to monitor wetland extent, as well as track the distribution and causes of wetland loss. Satellite imagery can be used to monitor wetlands over time, but few efforts have attempted to distinguish anthropogenic wetland loss from climate-driven variability in wetland extent. We present an approach to concurrently track land coverData release for Influence of multi-decadal land use, irrigation practices and climate on riparian corridors across the Upper Missouri River headwaters basin, Montana
The Upper Missouri River headwaters (UMH) basin (36 400 km2 ) depends on its river corridors to support irrigated agriculture and world-class trout fisheries. We evaluated trends (1984-2016) in riparian wetness, an indicator of the riparian condition, in peak irrigation months (June, July and August) for 158 km2 of riparian area across the basin using the Landsat normalized difference wetness indeData release for it matters when you measure it: using snow-cover Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to isolate post-fire conifer regeneration
Landsat Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is commonly used to monitor post-fire green-up; however, most studies do not distinguish new growth of conifer from deciduous or herbaceous species, despite potential consequences for local climate, carbon and wildlife. We found that dual season (growing and snow cover) NDVI improved our ability to distinguish conifer tree presence and density. - Publications
Filter Total Items: 36
High-frequency time series comparison of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 for open and vegetated water across the United States (2017-2021)
Frequent observations of surface water at fine spatial scales will provide critical data to support the management of aquatic habitat, flood risk and water quality. Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites can provide such observations, but algorithms are still needed that perform well across diverse climate and vegetation conditions. We developed surface inundation algorithms for Sentinel-1 and SentiAuthorsMelanie K. Vanderhoof, Laurie C. Alexander, Jay Christensen, Kylen Solvik, Peter Joseph Nieuwlandt, Mallory Annelle PrentissChanges in wildfire occurrence and risk to homes from 1990 through 2019 in the Southern Rocky Mountains, USA
Wildfires and housing development have increased since the 1990s, presenting unique challenges for wildfire management. However, it is unclear how the relative influences of housing growth and changing wildfire occurrence have altered risk to homes, or the potential for wildfire to threaten homes. We used a random forests model to predict burn probability in relation to weather variables at 1-km rAuthorsTodd Hawbaker, Paul D. Henne, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Amanda R. Carlson, Miranda H. Mockrin, Volker C. RadeloffGCPs free photogrammetry for estimating tree height and crown diameter in Arizona cypress plantation using UAV-Mounted GNSS RTK
One of the main challenges of using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in forest data acquisition is the implementation of Ground Control Points (GCPs) as a mandatory step, which is sometimes impossible for inaccessible areas or within canopy closures. This study aimed to test the accuracy of a UAV-mounted GNSS RTK (real-time kinematic) system for calculating tree height and crown height without anyAuthorsMorteza Pourreza, Fardin Moradi, Mohammad Khosravi, Azade Deljouei, Melanie K. VanderhoofContemporary (1984–2020) fire history metrics for the conterminous United States and ecoregional differences by land ownership
Background: Remotely sensed burned area products are critical to support fire modelling, policy, and management but often require further processing before use.Aim: We calculated fire history metrics from the Landsat Burned Area Product (1984–2020) across the conterminous U.S. (CONUS) including (1) fire frequency, (2) time since last burn (TSLB), (3) year of last burn, (4) longest fire-free intervAuthorsMelanie K. Vanderhoof, Todd Hawbaker, Casey Teske, Joe Noble, Jim SmithWind turbine wakes can impact down-wind vegetation greenness
Global wind energy has expanded 5-fold since 2010 and is predicted to expand another 8–10-fold over the next 30 years. Wakes generated by wind turbines can alter downwind microclimates and potentially downwind vegetation. However, the design of past studies has made it difficult to isolate the impact of wake effects on vegetation from land cover change. We used hourly wind data to model wake and nAuthorsJames E. Diffendorfer, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Zachary H. AnconaVulnerable waters are essential to watershed resilience
Watershed resilience is the ability of a watershed to maintain its characteristic system state while concurrently resisting, adapting to, and reorganizing after hydrological (for example, drought, flooding) or biogeochemical (for example, excessive nutrient) disturbances. Vulnerable waters include non-floodplain wetlands and headwater streams, abundant watershed components representing the most diAuthorsCharles R. Lane, Irena F. Creed, Heather E. Golden, Scott G. Leibowitz, David M. Mushet, Mark C. Rains, Qiusheng Wu, Ellen D’Amico, Laurie C. Alexander, Genevieve A. Ali, Nandita B. Basu, Micah G. Bennett, Jay R. Christensen, Matthew J. Cohen, Tim P. Covino, Ben DeVries, Ryan A. Hill, Kelsey G. Jencso, Megan W. Lang, Daniel L. McLaughlin, Donald O. Rosenberry, Jennifer Rover, Melanie K. VanderhoofMapping wetland burned area from Sentinel-2 across the southeastern United States and its contributions relative to Landsat 8 (2016-2019)
Prescribed fires and wildfires are common in wetland ecosystems across the Southeastern United States. However, the wetland burned area has been chronically underestimated across the region due to (1) spectral confusion between open water and burned area, (2) rapid post-fire vegetation regrowth, and (3) high annual precipitation limiting clear-sky satellite observations. We developed a machine leaAuthorsMelanie K. Vanderhoof, Todd Hawbaker, Casey Teske, Andrea Ku, Joe Noble, Joshua J. PicotteUsing the landsat burned area products to derive fire history relevant for fire management and conservation in the state of Florida, southeastern USA
Development of comprehensive spatially explicit fire occurrence data remains one of the most critical needs for fire managers globally, and especially for conservation across the southeastern United States. Not only are many endangered species and ecosystems in that region reliant on frequent fire, but fire risk analysis, prescribed fire planning, and fire behavior modeling are sensitive to fire hAuthorsCasey Teske, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Todd Hawbaker, Joe Noble, J. Kevin HiresNew operational national satellite burned area product
Introduction Lack of consistent spatial and temporal fire information with relevant spatial resolution hinders land management and broad-scale assessments of fire activity, especially in the eastern United States and the Great Plains where fi re is important ecologically and culturally. Remote sensing can be used to monitor fi re activity, augment existing fi re data, and fill information gaps. InAuthorsTodd Hawbaker, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Gail L. Schmidt, Yen-Ju G. Beal, Joshua J. Picotte, Joshua Takacs, Jeff T. Falgout, John L. DwyerDevelopment of a standard database of reference sites for validating global burned area products
Over the past 2 decades, several global burned area products have been produced and released to the public. However, the accuracy assessment of such products largely depends on the availability of reliable reference data that currently do not exist on a global scale or whose production require a high level of dedication of project resources. The important lack of reference data for the validationAuthorsMagí Franquesa, Melanie K. Vanderhoof, Dimitris Stavrakoudis, Ioannis Gitas, Ekhi Roteta, Marc Padilla, Emilio ChuviecoTracking rates of postfire conifer regeneration vs. deciduous vegetation recovery across the western United States
Postfire shifts in vegetation composition will have broad ecological impacts. However, information characterizing postfire recovery patterns and their drivers are lacking over large spatial extents. In this analysis, we used Landsat imagery collected when snow cover (SCS) was present, in combination with growing season (GS) imagery, to distinguish evergreen vegetation from deciduous vegetation. WeAuthorsMelanie K. Vanderhoof, Todd Hawbaker, Andrea Ming Ku, Kyle Merriam, Erin Berryman, Megan CattauIsolating anthropogenic wetland loss by concurrently tracking inundation and land cover disturbance across the Mid-Atlantic Region, U.S.
Global trends in wetland degradation and loss have created an urgency to monitor wetland extent, as well as track the distribution and causes of wetland loss. Satellite imagery can be used to monitor wetlands over time, but few efforts have attempted to distinguish anthropogenic wetland loss from climate-driven variability in wetland extent. We present an approach to concurrently track land coverAuthorsMelanie K. Vanderhoof, Jay Christensen, Yen-Ju G. Beal, Ben DeVries, Megan W. Lang, Nora Hwang, Christine Mazzarella, John W. JonesNon-USGS Publications**
Vanderhoof, M.K., Alexander, L.C. (2016) The role of lake expansion in altering the wetland landscape of the Prairie Pothole Region. Wetlands, 36(2):309-321, DOI:10.1007/s13157-015-0728-1.U.S. EPA (2015) Connectivity of Streams and Wetlands to Downstream Waters: A Review and Synthesis of the Scientific Evidence (Final Report). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-14/475F. (co-author on report)Vanderhoof, M., Williams, C. (2015) Persistence of evapotranspiration impacts from mountain pine beetle outbreaks in lodgepole pine forests, south-central Rocky Mountains. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 200:78-91.Ghimire, B., Williams, C.A., Collatz, G.J., Vanderhoof, M., Rogan, J., Kulaowski, D., Masek, J.G. (2015) Large carbon release legacy from bark beetle outbreaks across the Western United States. Global Change Biology, 21(8):3087-3101.Vanderhoof, M., Williams, C.A., Shuai, Y., Jarvis, D., Kulakowski, D., Masek, J. (2014) Albedo-induced radiative forcing from mountain pine beetle outbreaks in forests, south-central Rocky Mountains: magnitude, persistence, and relation to outbreak severity. Biogeosciences, 11:563-575.Williams, C., Vanderhoof, M., Khomik, M., Ghimire, B. (2014). Post-clearcut dynamics of carbon, water and energy changes in a mid-latitude temperate, deciduous broadleaf forest environment. Global Change Biology, 20(3):992-1007.Khomik, M., Williams, C.A., Vanderhoof, M.K., MacLean, R., Dillen, S.Y. (2014). On the causes of rising gross ecosystem productivity in a regenerating clearcut environment: leaf area, species composition, or environmental conditions. Tree Physiology, 34:686-700.Vanderhoof, M., Williams, C.A., Ghimire, B., & Rogan, J. (2013) Impact of mountain pine beetle outbreaks on forest albedo and TOA radiative forcing , as derived from MODIS, Rocky Mountains, USA. Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, 118:1461-1471.Vanderhoof, M., Williams, C.A., Pasay, M., & Ghimire, B. (2013) Controls on the rate of CO2 emission from woody debris in clearcut and coniferous forest environments of central Massachusetts. Biogeochemistry, 114:299-311.Ghimire, B., Williams, C.A, Collatz, G.J., & Vanderhoof, M. (2012) Fire induced regional carbon emissions and fluxes derived by parameterizing post-fire carbon flux trajectories for western United States forests: Accounting for variation across forest types, fire severity, and carbon pools. Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences, 117:1-29.Vanderhoof, M. , B. Holzman & C. Rogers. (2009) Predicting the distribution of perennial pepperweed, Lepidium latifolium, San Francisco Bay Area, California. Invasive Plant Science and Management, 2(3):260-269.**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.