Terry Sohl
Biography
Terry Sohl is a Research Physical Scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Since 1993, he has been involved in the mapping, analysis, and modeling of land-use and land-cover within USGS. Terry was one of the original project members that helped develop the 1992 National Land Cover Database (1992), and was also one of the original founders of the USGS Land Cover trends project. Using the experience gained from mapping and analyzing current and historical land-use change, Terry led the development of the unique land-cover modeling framework FORE-SCE (FOREcasting SCEnarios of land-use change), a modeling framework that has been used to produce scenario-based land-use and land-cover projections for the conterminous United States at high spatial and thematic resolution. Terry continues to lead land-cover modeling projects at USGS EROS, using a new, parcel-based modeling framework that models landscape change with an unprecedented combination of high spatial resolution, high thematic resolution, broad geographic coverage, representation of both anthropogenic land use and natural land cover change, and use of true land management and ownership boundaries.
More information on the work of his land-cover modeling group at USGS EROS may be found at:
https://landcover-modeling.cr.usgs.gov/
Publications
Sohl, T., Dornbierer, J., Wika, S., Sayler, K., and Quenzer, R., 2017. Parcels versus pixels: Modeling agricultural land use across broad geographic regions using parcel-based field boundaries. Journal of Land Use Science 12(4): 197-217.
Li, Z., Liu, S., Tan, Z., Sohl, T.L., and Wu, Y., 2017. Simulating the effects of management pracitces on cropland soil organic changes in the Temperate Prairies Ecoregion of the United States from 1980 to 2012. Ecological Modeling 365: 68-79.
Jenni, K.E., Goldhaber, M.B., Betancourt, J.L., Baron, J.S., Bristol, R.S., Cantrill, Mary, Exter, P.E., Focazio, M.J., Haines, J.W., Hay, L.E., Hsu, Leslie, Labson, V.F., Lafferty, K.D., Ludwig, K.A., Milly, P.C., Morelli, T.L., Morman, S.A., Nassar, N.T., Newman, T.R., Ostroff, A.C., Read, J.S., Reed, S.C., Shapiro, C.D., Smith, R.A., Sanford, W.E., Sohl, T.L., Stets, E.G., Terando, A.J., Tillitt, D.E., Tischler, M.A., Toccalino, P.L., Wald, D.J., Waldrop, M.P., Wein, Anne, Weltzin, J.F., and Zimmerman, C.E., 2017, Grand challenges for integrated USGS science—A workshop report: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2017–1076, 94 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20171076.
Liu, S., Bond-Lamberty, B., Boysen, L.R., Ford, J.D., Fox, A., Gallo, K., Hatfield, J., Henebry, G.M., Liu, Z., Loveland, T.R., Norby, R.J., Sohl, T.L., Steiner, A.L., Huntington, T.G., Yuan, W., Zhang, Z., and Zhao, S., 2017, Grand Challenges in Understanding the Interplay of Climate and Land Changes. Earth Interactions 21, paper #2. 42 pages. https://doi.org/10.1175/EI-D-16-0012.1
Sohl, T.L., Wimberly, M.C., Radeloff, V.C., Theobald, D.M., and Sleeter, B.M., 2016, Divergent projections of future land use in the United States arising from different models and scenarios. Ecological Modelling 337: 281-297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2016.07.016.
Sohl, T., Reker, R., Bouchard, M., Sayler, K., Dornbierer, J., Wika, S., Quenzer, R., and Freisz, A., 2016. Modeled historical land use and land cover for the conterminous United States. Journal of Land Use Science. DOI: 10.1080/1747423X.2016.1147619 [Link]
Wimberly, M.C., Sohl, T.L., Liu, Z., and Lamsal, A., 2015, Simulating forest landscape disturbances as coupled human and natural systems, chap. 9in Perera, A.H., Sturtevant, B.R., and Buse, L.J., eds., Simulation modeling of forest landscape disturbances: Switzerland, Springer, p. 233-261, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19809-5_9 [Link]
Tan, Z., Liu, S., Sohl, T.L., Wu, Y., and Young, C.J., 2015. Ecosystem carbon stocks and sequestration potential of federal lands across the conterminous United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. p. 0-0, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1512542112. [Link]
Wu, Y., Liu, S., Young, C.J., Dahal, D., Sohl, T.L., and Davis, B.N., 2015, Projection of corn production and stover-harvesting impacts on soil organic carbon dynamics in the U.S. temperate prairies: Scientific Reports, v. 5, article number 10830, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep10830. [Link]
Vacquie, L.A., Houet, T., Sohl, T.L., Reker, R., and Sayler, K.L., 2015, Modelling Regional Land Change Scenarios to Assess Land Abandonment and Reforestation Dynamics in the Pyrenees (France). Journal of Mountain Science 12(4): 905-920. [Link]
Byrd, K.B., Flint, L.E., Alvarez, P., Casey, C.F., Sleeter, B.M., Soulard, C.E., Flint, A.L., and Sohl, T.L., 2015. Integrated climate and land use change scnearios for California rangeland ecosystem services: wildlife habitat, soil carbon and water supply. Landscape Ecology doi: 10.1007/s10980-015-0159-7 [Link]
Liu, Z., Wimberly, M.C., Lamsal, A., Sohl, T.L., and Hawbaker, T.J., 2015, Climate change and wildfire risk in an expanding wildland-urban interface: A case study from the Colorado Front Range Corridor. Landscape Ecology 30(10), 1943-1957. DOI 10.1007/s10980-015-0222-4 [Link]
Byrd, K., Ratliff, J., Bliss, N.B., Wein, A., Sleeter, B., Sohl, T.L., and Li, Z., 2015, Quantifying climate change mitigation potential in the United States Great Plains wetlands for three greenhouse gas emission scenarios: Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, v. 20, no. 3, p. 439-465, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11027-013-9500-0 [Link]
Huang, S., Liu, S., Liu, J., Dahal, D., Young, C., Davis, B., Sohl, T.L., Hawbaker, T.J., Sleeter, B., and Zhu, Z., 2015. Projecting the spatiotemporal carbon dynamics of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem from 2006 to 2050. Carbon Balance and Management 10:7. doi: 10.1186/s13021-015-0017-6 [Link]
Sohl, T.L., 2014. The relative impacts of climate and land-use change on conterminous United States bird species from 2001 to 2075. PLoS ONE 9(11): e112251. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0112251 [Link]
Sohl, T.L., Sayler, K.L., Bouchard, M.A., Reker, R.R., Friesz, A.M., Bennett, S.L., Sleeter, B.M., Sleeter, R.R., Wilson, T.S., Knuppe, M., and Van Hofwegen, T., 2014. Spatially explicit modeling of 1992 to 2100 land cover and forest stand age for the conterminous United States. Ecological Applications: 24(5): 1015-1036. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/13-1245.1 [Link]
Wu, Y., Liu, S., Li, Z., Dahal, D., Young, C.J., Schmidt, G.L., Liu, J., Davis, B., Sohl, T.L., Werner, J.M., and Oeding, J., 2014, Development of a generic auto-calibration package for regional ecological modeling and application in the Central Plains of the United States: Ecological Informatics, v. 19, p. 35-46. (Also available online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoinf.2013.11.008. [Link]
Zhao, S., Liu, S., Sohl, T., Young, C., and Werner, J., 2013. Land use and carbon dynamics in the southeastern United States from 1992 to 2050. Environmental Research Letters 8, 044022 (9 pp): doi:10.1088/1748-9326/8/4/044022 [Link]
Sohl, T.L., and Claggett, P.R., 2013, Clarity versus complexity: Land-use modeling as a practical tool for decision-makers, Journal of Environmental Management 129, p. 235-243. [Link]
Byrd, K., Ratliff, J., Bliss, N., Wein, A., Sleeter, B., Sohl, T., and Li, Z., 2013, Quantifying climate change mitigation potential in the United States Great Plains wetlands for three greenhouse gas emission scenarios. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change DOI 10.1007/s11027-013-9500-0. [Link]
Wu, Y., Liu, S., Sohl, T.L., and Young, C., 2013, Projecting the land cover change and its environmental impacts in the Cedar River Basin in the Midwestern United States: Environmental Research Letters. 8 (2013) 024025 [Link]
Sleeter, B.M., Sohl, T.L., Loveland, T.R., Auch, R.F., Acevedo, W., Drummond, M.A., Sayler, K.L., and Stehman, S.V., 2013, Land-cover change in the conterminous United States from 1973 to 2000: Global Environmental Change 23, pp. 733-748. [Link]
Sohl, Terry L.; Sleeter, Benjamin M., 2012. Land-use and land-cover scenarios and spatial modeling at the regional scale. U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2012-3091, 4 p. [Link]
Sohl, T.L., Sleeter, B.M., Sayler, K.L., Bouchard, M.A., Reker, R.R., Bennett, S.L., Sleeter, R.R., Kanengieter, R.L., and Zhu, Z., 2012, Spatially explicit land-use and land-cover scenarios for the Great Plains of the United States: Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment v. 153, p 1-15. [Link]
Sohl, T.L.., and B. M. Sleeter, 2012, Role of Remote Sensing for Land-Use and Land-Cove Change Modeling, in Remote Sensing and Land Cover: Principles and Applications, ed. C. Giri, Taylor and Francis CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida. Pp 225-239.
Sohl, T.L., Sleeter, B.M., Zhu, Z., Sayler, K.L., Bennett, S., Bouchard, M., Reker, R., Hawbaker, T., Wein, A., Liu, S., Kanengieter, R., and Acevedo, W., 2012, A land-use and land-cover modeling strategy to support a national assessment of carbon stocks and fluxes: Applied Geography v. 34, p. 111-124. [Link]
Sleeter, B.M., Sohl, T.L., Bouchard, M., Reker, R, Sleeter, R.R., and Sayler, K.L., 2012, Scenarios of land use and land cover change in the conterminous United States: Utilizing the Special Report on Emission Scenarios at Ecoregional Scales: Global Environmental Change (in press).
Sohl, T.L., and L.B. Sohl, 2012. Land Use Change in the Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens ecoregion. Geographical Review 102(2): pp. 180-201. [Link]
Zhu, Zhiliang, ed.; Bergamaschi, Brian; Bernknopf, Richard; Clow, David; Dye, Dennis; Faulkner, Stephen; Forney, William; Gleason, Robert; Hawbaker,Todd; Liu, Jinxun; Liu, Shuguang; Prisley, Stephen; Reed, Bradley; Reeves, Matthew; Rollins, Matthew; Sleeter, Benjamin; Sohl, Terry; Stackpoole, Sarah; Stehman, Stephen; Striegl, Robert; Wein, Anne; Zhu, Zhiliang , 2010. A method for assessing carbon stocks, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse-gas fluxes in ecosystems of the United States under present conditions and future scenarios. U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5233, xviii, 85 p. ; appendices; Download Files: Main body; Appendix A; Appendix B; Appendix C; Appendix D; Appendix E; Appendix F; Appendix G; Appendix H; Appendix I [Link]
Sohl, T.L., Loveland, T.R., Sleeter, B.M., Sayler, K.L., and Barnes, C.A., 2010, Addressing foundational elements of regional land-use change forecasting: Landscape Ecology, v. 25, no. 2, p. 233-247 [Link]
Zhao, S., Liu, S., Li, Z., and Sohl, T., 2010, Federal Land Management, Carbon Sequestration, and Climate Change in the Southeastern U.S.: A case study with Fort Benning: Environmental Science & Technology v. 44, issue 3, p. 992-997 [Link]
Zhao, S., Liu, S., Li, Z., and Sohl, T., 2010, A spatial resolution threshold of land cover in estimating terrestrial carbon sequestration in four counties in Georgia and Alabama: Biogeosciences v. 7, issue 1, p. 71-80. [Link]
Zhao, S., Liu, S., Li, Z., and Sohl, T., 2009, Ignoring detailed fast-changing dynamics of land use overestimates regional terrestrial carbon sequestration: Biogeosciences v. 6, p. 1647-1654. [Link]
Sohl, T.L. and Sayler, K.L., 2008, Using the FORE-SCE model to project land-cover change in the southeastern United States: Ecological Modelling v. 219, no. 1-2, p. 49-65. [Link]
Sohl, T.L., Sayler, K.L, Drummond, M.A., and Loveland, T.R., 2007, The FORE-SCE model: A practical approach for projecting land use change using scenario-based modeling: Journal of Land Use Science v. 2, issue 2, p. 103-126. [Link]
Stehman, S.V., Sohl, T.L., and Loveland, T.R., 2005, An evaluation of sampling strategies to improve precision of estimates of gross change in land use and land cover: International Journal of Remote Sensing v. 26, issue 22, p. 4941-4957. [Link]
Sohl, T.L., Gallant, A.L., and Loveland, T.R., 2004, The Characteristics and Interpretability of Land Surface Change and Implications on Project Design: Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, v. 70, issue 4, p. 439-448. [Link]
Gallant, A.L., Loveland, T.R., Sohl, T.L., and Napton, D., 2004, Using a geographic framework for analyzing land cover issues: Environmental Management v. 34, issue S1, p. 89-110. [Link]
Sohl, T. L., 2003. Atlantic coastal pine barrens. Fact Sheet 092-03, 4 p.
Griffith, J.A., Stehman, S.V., Sohl, T.L., and Loveland, T.R., 2003, Detecting trends in landscape pattern metrics over a 20-year period using a sampling-based monitoring programme: International Journal of Remote Sensing v. 24, issue 1, p. 175-181. [Link]
Stehman, S.V., Sohl, T., and Loveland, T., 2003, Statistical sampling to characterize recent United States land-cover change. Remote Sensing of Environment 86, no. 4, p. 517-529. [Link]
Napton, D., Auch, R., Sohl, T., and Loveland, T., 2003, Land use and land cover change in the north-central Appalachians ecoregion: Pennsylvania Geographer v. 41, issue 2, p. 46-66. [Link]
Loveland, T.R., Sohl, T.L., Stehman, S.V., Gallant, A.L.., Sayler, K.L., and Napton, D.E., 2002, A strategy for estimating the rates of recent United States land cover changes: Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing v. 68, issue 10, p. 1091-1099. [Link]
Sohl, T.L., 1999, Change detection in the United Arab Emirates: An investigation of techniques: Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing v. 65, issue 4, p. 475-484.
Sohl, T.L., and Dwyer, J., 1998, North American Landscape Characterization Project: The production of continental scale three-decade Landsat data sets: Geocarto International v. 13, issue 3, p. 43-41.
Vogelmann, J., Sohl, T., and Howard, S., 1998, Regional characterization of land cover using multiple sources of data: Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing v. 64, issue 1, p. 45-57. [Link]
Vogelmann, J.E., Sohl, T.L., Campbell, P.V.., and Shaw, D.M., 1998, Regional Land Cover Characterization using Landsat Thematic Mapper Data and Ancillary Data Sources: Environmental Monitoring and Assessment v. 51, issue 1-2, p. 415-428. [Link]
Science and Products
Grand challenges for integrated USGS science—A workshop report
Executive SummaryThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has a long history of advancing the traditional Earth science disciplines and identifying opportunities to integrate USGS science across disciplines to address complex societal problems. The USGS science strategy for 2007–2017 laid out key challenges in disciplinary and interdisciplinary arenas,...
Jenni, Karen E.; Goldhaber, Martin B.; Betancourt, Julio L.; Baron, Jill S.; Bristol, R. Sky; Cantrill, Mary; Exter, Paul E.; Focazio, Michael J.; Haines, John W.; Hay, Lauren E.; Hsu, Leslie; Labson, Victor F.; Lafferty, Kevin D.; Ludwig, Kristin A.; Milly, Paul C. D.; Morelli, Toni L.; Morman, Suzette A.; Nassar, Nedal T.; Newman, Timothy R.; Ostroff, Andrea C. ; Read, Jordan S.; Reed, Sasha C.; Shapiro, Carl D.; Smith, Richard A.; Sanford, Ward E.; Sohl, Terry L.; Stets, Edward G.; Terando, Adam J.; Tillitt, Donald E.; Tischler, Michael A.; Toccalino, Patricia L.; Wald, David J.; Waldrop, Mark P.; Wein, Anne; Weltzin, Jake F.; Zimmerman, Christian E.
Parcels versus pixels: modeling agricultural land use across broad geographic regions using parcel-based field boundaries
Land use and land cover (LULC) change occurs at a local level within contiguous ownership and management units (parcels), yet LULC models primarily use pixel-based spatial frameworks. The few parcel-based models being used overwhelmingly focus on small geographic areas, limiting the ability to assess LULC change impacts at regional to national...
Sohl, Terry L.; Dornbierer, Jordan; Wika, Steve; Sayler, Kristi L.; Quenzer, Robert Grand challenges in understanding the interplay of climate and land changes
Half of Earth’s land surface has been altered by human activities, creating various consequences on the climate and weather systems at local to global scales, which in turn affect a myriad of land surface processes and the adaptation behaviors. This study reviews the status and major knowledge gaps in the interactions of land and atmospheric...
Liu, Shuguang; Bond-Lamberty, Ben; Boysen, Lena R.; Ford, James D.; Fox, Andrew; Gallo, Kevin; Hatfield, Jerry L.; Henebry, Geoffrey M.; Huntington, Thomas G.; Liu, Zhihua; Loveland, Thomas R.; Norby, Richard J.; Sohl, Terry L.; Steiner, Allison L.; Yuan, Wenping; Zhang, Zhao; Zhao, Shuqing Divergent projections of future land use in the United States arising from different models and scenarios
A variety of land-use and land-cover (LULC) models operating at scales from local to global have been developed in recent years, including a number of models that provide spatially explicit, multi-class LULC projections for the conterminous United States. This diversity of modeling approaches raises the question: how consistent are their...
Sohl, Terry L.; Wimberly, Michael; Radeloff, Volker C.; Theobald, David M.; Sleeter, Benjamin M. Modeled historical land use and land cover for the conterminous United States
The landscape of the conterminous United States has changed dramatically over the last 200 years, with agricultural land use, urban expansion, forestry, and other anthropogenic activities altering land cover across vast swaths of the country. While land use and land cover (LULC) models have been developed to model potential future LULC change...
Sohl, Terry L.; Reker, Ryan R.; Bouchard, Michelle A.; Sayler, Kristi L.; Dornbierer, Jordan; Wika, Steve; Quenzer, Robert; Friesz, Aaron M. Climate change and wildfire risk in an expanding wildland–urban interface: a case study from the Colorado Front Range Corridor
Context Wildfire is a particular concern in the wildland–urban interface (WUI) of the western United States where human development occurs close to flammable natural vegetation. Objectives (1) Assess the relative influences of WUI expansion versus climate-driven fire regime change on spatial and temporal patterns of burned WUI, and (2)...
Liu, Zhihua; Wimberly, Michael C.; Lamsal, Aashis; Sohl, Terry L.; Hawbaker, Todd J. Modelling regional land change scenarios to assess land abandonment and reforestation dynamics in the Pyrenees (France)
Over the last decades and centuries, European mountain landscapes have experienced substantial transformations. Natural and anthropogenic LULC changes (land use and land cover changes), especially agro-pastoral activities, have directly influenced the spatial organization and composition of European mountain landscapes. For the past sixty years,...
Vacquie, Laure; Houet, Thomas; Sohl, Terry L.; Reker, Ryan R.; Sayler, Kristi L. Simulating forest landscape disturbances as coupled human and natural systems
Anthropogenic disturbances resulting from human land use affect forest landscapes over a range of spatial and temporal scales, with diverse influences on vegetation patterns and dynamics. These processes fall within the scope of the coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) concept, which has emerged as an important framework for understanding the...
Wimberly, Michael; Sohl, Terry L.; Liu, Zhihua; Lamsal, Aashis Ecosystem carbon stocks and sequestration potential of federal lands across the conterminous United States
Federal lands across the conterminous United States (CONUS) account for 23.5% of the CONUS terrestrial area but have received no systematic studies on their ecosystem carbon (C) dynamics and contribution to the national C budgets. The methodology for US Congress-mandated national biological C sequestration potential assessment was used to evaluate...
Tan, Zhengxi; Liu, Shuguang; Sohl, Terry L.; Wu, Yiping; Young, Claudia J. Projection of corn production and stover-harvesting impacts on soil organic carbon dynamics in the U.S. Temperate Prairies
Terrestrial carbon sequestration potential is widely considered as a realistic option for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. However, this potential may be threatened by global changes including climate, land use, and management changes such as increased corn stover harvesting for rising production of cellulosic biofuel. Therefore, it is...
Wu, Yiping; Liu, Shuguang; Young, Claudia J.; Dahal, Devendra; Sohl, Terry L.; Davis, Brian Using Landsat imagery to detect, monitor, and project net landscape change
Detailed landscape information is a necessary component to bird habitat conservation planning. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center has been providing information on the Earth’s surface for over 40 years via the continuous series of Landsat satellites. In addition to operating, processing, and...
Reker, Ryan R.; Sohl, Terry L.; Gallant, Alisa L. Integrated climate and land use change scenarios for California rangeland ecosystem services: wildlife habitat, soil carbon, and water supply
Context In addition to biodiversity conservation, California rangelands generate multiple ecosystem services including livestock production, drinking and irrigation water, and carbon sequestration. California rangeland ecosystems have experienced substantial conversion to residential land use and more intensive agriculture. Objectives To...
Byrd, Kristin B.; Flint, Lorraine E.; Alvarez, Pelayo; Casey, Frank; Sleeter, Benjamin M.; Soulard, Christopher E.; Flint, Alan L.; Sohl, Terry L.