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USGS science for a changing world logo

System analysis of land use and climate effects on ecosystem services affecting C and N exchanges with the atmosphere and water cycles

Current land use practices have affected ecosystem structure and processes in ways that have degraded delivery of key ecosystem services controlling exchanges of carbon and nitrogen with the atmosphere and surface and groundwater systems. These impacts are observed in the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and N pollution in our nation’s water systems and coastal areas. Improvements in databases
By
John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis
link

System analysis of land use and climate effects on ecosystem services affecting C and N exchanges with the atmosphere and water cycles

Current land use practices have affected ecosystem structure and processes in ways that have degraded delivery of key ecosystem services controlling exchanges of carbon and nitrogen with the atmosphere and surface and groundwater systems. These impacts are observed in the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and N pollution in our nation’s water systems and coastal areas. Improvements in databases
Learn More

A circa 2010 global land cover reference dataset from commercial high resolution satellite data

The data are 475 thematic land cover raster?s at 2m resolution. Land cover classification was to the land cover classes: Tree (1), Water (2), Barren (3), Other Vegetation (4) and Ice & Snow (8). Cloud cover and Shadow were sometimes coded as Cloud (5) and Shadow (6), however for any land cover application would be considered NoData. Some raster?s may have Cloud and Shadow pixels coded or recoded t
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

LCMAP CONUS Reference Data Product 1984-2018 land cover, land use and change process attributes

The LCMAP Reference Data Product was utilized for evaluation and validation of the Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) land cover and land cover change products. The LCMAP Reference Data Product includes the collection of an independent dataset of 25,000 randomly-distributed 30-meter by 30-meter plots across the conterminous United States (CONUS). This dataset was collected
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
Image: Prairie Restoration
Prairie Restoration
Prairie Restoration
Image: Prairie Restoration

Prairie Restoration

Prairie Restoration

Native prairie restoration on former cropland near Vincennes, Indiana. Changes from intense agricultural use to grasslands and forests can affect carbon dynamics and wildlife habitat.

By
Ecosystems, Communications and Publishing
Image: Prairie Restoration

Prairie Restoration

Prairie Restoration

Native prairie restoration on former cropland near Vincennes, Indiana. Changes from intense agricultural use to grasslands and forests can affect carbon dynamics and wildlife habitat.

By
Ecosystems, Communications and Publishing
Filter Total Items: 140

Fifty years of Landsat science and impacts

Since 1972, the Landsat program has been continually monitoring the Earth, to now provide 50 years of digital, multispectral, medium spatial resolution observations. Over this time, Landsat data were crucial for many scientific and technical advances. Prior to the Landsat program, detailed, synoptic depictions of the Earth's surface were rare, and the ability to acquire and work with large dataset
Authors
Michael A. Wulder, David P. Roy, Volker C. Radeloff, Thomas Loveland, Martha C. Anderson, David M. Johnson, Sean Healey, Zhe Zhu, Theodore A. Scambos, Nima Pahlevan, Matthew Hansen, Noel Gorelick, Christopher J. Crawford, Jeffery G. Masek, Txomin Hermosilla, JoAnn C. White, Alan S. Belward, Crystal Schaaf, Curtis E. Woodcock, Justin L. Huntington, Leo Lymburner, Patrick Hostert, Feng Gao, Alexi Lyapustin, Jean-Francois Pekel, Peter Strobl, Eric Vermote, Bruce D. Cook
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

Medium spatial resolution mapping of global land cover and land cover change across multiple decades from Landsat

Land cover maps are essential for characterizing the biophysical properties of the Earth’s land areas. Because land cover information synthesizes a rich array of information related to both the ecological condition of land areas and their exploitation by humans, they are widely used for basic and applied research that requires information related to land surface properties (e.g., terrestrial carbo
Authors
Mark A. Friedl, Curtis E. Woodcock, Pontus Olofsson, Zhe Zhu, Thomas R. Loveland, Radost Stanimirova, Paulo Arevalo, Eric L. Bullock, Kai-Ting Hu, Yingtong Zhang, Konrad Turlej, Katelyn Tarrio, McAvoy Kristina, Noel Gorelick, Jonathan A. Wang, Christopher Barber, Carlos Souza Jr.
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

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 Z. Xian, Christopher Barnes, Ryan R. Reker
By
Core Science Systems Mission Area, National Land Imaging Program, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection

Semi-centennial of Landsat observations and pending Landsat 9 launch

The first Landsat was placed in orbit on 23 July 1972, followed by a series of missions that have provided nearly continuous, two-satellite 8-day repeat image coverage of the Earth’s land areas for the last half-century. These observations have substantially enhanced our understanding of the Earth’s terrestrial dynamics, both as a major element of the Earth’s physical system, the primary home of h
Authors
Samuel N. Goward, Jeffery G. Masek, Thomas Loveland, John L. Dwyer, Darrel L. Williams, Terry Arvidson, Laura E.P. Rocchio, James R. Irons
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

Climate sensitivity to decadal land cover and land use change across the conterminous United States

Transitions to terrestrial ecosystems attributable to land cover and land use change (LCLUC) and climate change can affect the climate at local to regional scales. However, conclusions from most previous studies do not provide information about local climate effects, and little research has directly quantified how LCLUC intensity within different ecoregions relates to climate variation. In this st
Authors
George Z. Xian, Thomas Loveland, Seth M. Munson, James Vogelmann, Xubin Zeng, Collin Homer
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

Investigating the effects of land use and land cover on the relationship between moisture and reflectance using Landsat Time Series

To better understand the Earth system, it is important to investigate the interactions between precipitation, land use/land cover (LULC), and the land surface, especially vegetation. An improved understanding of these land-atmosphere interactions can aid understanding of the climate system and modeling of time series satellite data. Here, we investigate the effect of precipitation and LULC on the
Authors
Heather J. Tollerud, Jesslyn F. Brown, Thomas Loveland
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection

Critical land change information enhances the understanding of carbon balance in the United States

Large-scale terrestrial carbon (C) estimating studies using methods such as atmospheric inversion, biogeochemical modeling, and field inventories have produced different results. The goal of this study was to integrate fine-scale processes including land use and land cover change into a large-scale ecosystem framework. We analyzed the terrestrial C budget of the conterminous United States from 197
Authors
Jinxun Liu, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Zhiliang Zhu, Thomas Loveland, Terry L. Sohl, Stephen M. Howard, Carl H. Key, Todd Hawbaker, Shuguang Liu, Bradley C. Reed, Mark A. Cochrane, Linda S. Heath, Hong Jiang, David T. Price, Jing M. Chen, Decheng Zhou, Norman B. Bliss, Tamara Wilson, Jason T. Sherba, Qiuan Zhu, Yiqi Luo, Benjiamin Paulter
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Western Geographic Science Center

Quality control and assessment of interpreter consistency of annual land cover reference data in an operational national monitoring program

The U.S. Geological Survey Land Change Monitoring, Assessment and Projection (USGS LCMAP) initiative is working toward a comprehensive capability to characterize land cover and land cover change using dense Landsat time series data. A suite of products including annual land cover maps and annual land cover change maps will be produced using the Landsat 4-8 data record. LCMAP products will initiall
Authors
Bruce Pengra, Stephen V. Stehman, Josephine Horton, Daryn (Contractor) Dockter, Todd A. Schroeder, Zhiqiang Yang, Warren B Cohen, Sean P. Healey, Thomas Loveland
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection

Transitioning from change detection to monitoring with remote sensing: A paradigm shift

The use of time series analysis with moderate resolution satellite imagery is increasingly common, particularly since the advent of freely available Landsat data. Dense time series analysis is providing new information on the timing of landscape changes, as well as improving the quality and accuracy of information being derived from remote sensing. Perhaps most importantly, time series analysis is
Authors
Curtis E. Woodcock, Thomas Loveland, Martin Herold, Marvin E. Bauer
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

Lessons learned implementing an operational continuous United States national land change monitoring capability: The Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) approach

Growing demands for temporally specific information on land surface change are fueling a new generation of maps and statistics that can contribute to understanding geographic and temporal patterns of change across large regions, provide input into a wide range of environmental modeling studies, clarify the drivers of change, and provide more timely information for land managers. To meet these need
Authors
Jesslyn F. Brown, Heather J. Tollerud, Christopher Barber, Qiang Zhou, John L. Dwyer, James Vogelmann, Thomas Loveland, Curtis Woodcock, Stephen V. Stehman, Zhe Zhu, Bruce Pengra, Kelcy Smith, Josephine Horton, George Z. Xian, Roger F. Auch, Terry L. Sohl, Kristi Sayler, Alisa L. Gallant, Daniel Zelenak, Ryan R. Reker, Jennifer R. Rover
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection

Application of a regional climate model to assess changes in the climatology of the Eastern US and Cuba associated with historic landcover change

We examine the annual, seasonal, monthly, and diurnal climate responses to the land use change (LUC) in eastern United States and Cuba during four epochs (1650, 1850, 1920, and 1992) with ensemble simulations conducted with the RegCM4 regional climate model that includes the Biosphere Atmosphere Transfer Scheme (BATS1e) surface physics package (Dickinson et al., 1993). We derived the land use (LU)
Authors
Steven W. Hostetler, R Reker, Jay R. Alder, Thomas Loveland, Debra A. Willard, Christopher E. Bernhardt, Eric T. Sundquist, Renee L. Thompson
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center

Drought and land-cover conditions in the Great Plains

Land–atmosphere interactions play a critical role in the Earth system, and a better understanding of these interactions could improve weather and climate models. The interaction among drought, vegetation productivity, and land cover is of particular significance. In a semiarid environment, such as the U.S. Great Plains, droughts can have a large influence on the productivity of agriculture and gra
Authors
Heather J. Tollerud, Jesslyn F. Brown, Thomas Loveland, Rezaul Mahmood, Norman B. Bliss
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
Pecora 22 Call for Special Session Proposals

Pecora 22 Call for Special Session Proposals

The 22nd William T. Pecora Memorial Remote Sensing Symposium (Pecora 22) will be held October 23 – 28, 2022 in Denver, Colorado, USA.

Read Article
USGS and NASA Select New Landsat Science Team

USGS and NASA Select New Landsat Science Team

The USGS and NASA have selected the scientists and engineers who will serve on the next Landsat Science Team. 

Read Article

Science and Products

link
USGS science for a changing world logo

System analysis of land use and climate effects on ecosystem services affecting C and N exchanges with the atmosphere and water cycles

Current land use practices have affected ecosystem structure and processes in ways that have degraded delivery of key ecosystem services controlling exchanges of carbon and nitrogen with the atmosphere and surface and groundwater systems. These impacts are observed in the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and N pollution in our nation’s water systems and coastal areas. Improvements in databases
By
John Wesley Powell Center for Analysis and Synthesis
link

System analysis of land use and climate effects on ecosystem services affecting C and N exchanges with the atmosphere and water cycles

Current land use practices have affected ecosystem structure and processes in ways that have degraded delivery of key ecosystem services controlling exchanges of carbon and nitrogen with the atmosphere and surface and groundwater systems. These impacts are observed in the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) and N pollution in our nation’s water systems and coastal areas. Improvements in databases
Learn More

A circa 2010 global land cover reference dataset from commercial high resolution satellite data

The data are 475 thematic land cover raster?s at 2m resolution. Land cover classification was to the land cover classes: Tree (1), Water (2), Barren (3), Other Vegetation (4) and Ice & Snow (8). Cloud cover and Shadow were sometimes coded as Cloud (5) and Shadow (6), however for any land cover application would be considered NoData. Some raster?s may have Cloud and Shadow pixels coded or recoded t
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

LCMAP CONUS Reference Data Product 1984-2018 land cover, land use and change process attributes

The LCMAP Reference Data Product was utilized for evaluation and validation of the Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) land cover and land cover change products. The LCMAP Reference Data Product includes the collection of an independent dataset of 25,000 randomly-distributed 30-meter by 30-meter plots across the conterminous United States (CONUS). This dataset was collected
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
Image: Prairie Restoration
Prairie Restoration
Prairie Restoration
Image: Prairie Restoration

Prairie Restoration

Prairie Restoration

Native prairie restoration on former cropland near Vincennes, Indiana. Changes from intense agricultural use to grasslands and forests can affect carbon dynamics and wildlife habitat.

By
Ecosystems, Communications and Publishing
Image: Prairie Restoration

Prairie Restoration

Prairie Restoration

Native prairie restoration on former cropland near Vincennes, Indiana. Changes from intense agricultural use to grasslands and forests can affect carbon dynamics and wildlife habitat.

By
Ecosystems, Communications and Publishing
Filter Total Items: 140

Fifty years of Landsat science and impacts

Since 1972, the Landsat program has been continually monitoring the Earth, to now provide 50 years of digital, multispectral, medium spatial resolution observations. Over this time, Landsat data were crucial for many scientific and technical advances. Prior to the Landsat program, detailed, synoptic depictions of the Earth's surface were rare, and the ability to acquire and work with large dataset
Authors
Michael A. Wulder, David P. Roy, Volker C. Radeloff, Thomas Loveland, Martha C. Anderson, David M. Johnson, Sean Healey, Zhe Zhu, Theodore A. Scambos, Nima Pahlevan, Matthew Hansen, Noel Gorelick, Christopher J. Crawford, Jeffery G. Masek, Txomin Hermosilla, JoAnn C. White, Alan S. Belward, Crystal Schaaf, Curtis E. Woodcock, Justin L. Huntington, Leo Lymburner, Patrick Hostert, Feng Gao, Alexi Lyapustin, Jean-Francois Pekel, Peter Strobl, Eric Vermote, Bruce D. Cook
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

Medium spatial resolution mapping of global land cover and land cover change across multiple decades from Landsat

Land cover maps are essential for characterizing the biophysical properties of the Earth’s land areas. Because land cover information synthesizes a rich array of information related to both the ecological condition of land areas and their exploitation by humans, they are widely used for basic and applied research that requires information related to land surface properties (e.g., terrestrial carbo
Authors
Mark A. Friedl, Curtis E. Woodcock, Pontus Olofsson, Zhe Zhu, Thomas R. Loveland, Radost Stanimirova, Paulo Arevalo, Eric L. Bullock, Kai-Ting Hu, Yingtong Zhang, Konrad Turlej, Katelyn Tarrio, McAvoy Kristina, Noel Gorelick, Jonathan A. Wang, Christopher Barber, Carlos Souza Jr.
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

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 Z. Xian, Christopher Barnes, Ryan R. Reker
By
Core Science Systems Mission Area, National Land Imaging Program, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection

Semi-centennial of Landsat observations and pending Landsat 9 launch

The first Landsat was placed in orbit on 23 July 1972, followed by a series of missions that have provided nearly continuous, two-satellite 8-day repeat image coverage of the Earth’s land areas for the last half-century. These observations have substantially enhanced our understanding of the Earth’s terrestrial dynamics, both as a major element of the Earth’s physical system, the primary home of h
Authors
Samuel N. Goward, Jeffery G. Masek, Thomas Loveland, John L. Dwyer, Darrel L. Williams, Terry Arvidson, Laura E.P. Rocchio, James R. Irons
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

Climate sensitivity to decadal land cover and land use change across the conterminous United States

Transitions to terrestrial ecosystems attributable to land cover and land use change (LCLUC) and climate change can affect the climate at local to regional scales. However, conclusions from most previous studies do not provide information about local climate effects, and little research has directly quantified how LCLUC intensity within different ecoregions relates to climate variation. In this st
Authors
George Z. Xian, Thomas Loveland, Seth M. Munson, James Vogelmann, Xubin Zeng, Collin Homer
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

Investigating the effects of land use and land cover on the relationship between moisture and reflectance using Landsat Time Series

To better understand the Earth system, it is important to investigate the interactions between precipitation, land use/land cover (LULC), and the land surface, especially vegetation. An improved understanding of these land-atmosphere interactions can aid understanding of the climate system and modeling of time series satellite data. Here, we investigate the effect of precipitation and LULC on the
Authors
Heather J. Tollerud, Jesslyn F. Brown, Thomas Loveland
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection

Critical land change information enhances the understanding of carbon balance in the United States

Large-scale terrestrial carbon (C) estimating studies using methods such as atmospheric inversion, biogeochemical modeling, and field inventories have produced different results. The goal of this study was to integrate fine-scale processes including land use and land cover change into a large-scale ecosystem framework. We analyzed the terrestrial C budget of the conterminous United States from 197
Authors
Jinxun Liu, Benjamin M. Sleeter, Zhiliang Zhu, Thomas Loveland, Terry L. Sohl, Stephen M. Howard, Carl H. Key, Todd Hawbaker, Shuguang Liu, Bradley C. Reed, Mark A. Cochrane, Linda S. Heath, Hong Jiang, David T. Price, Jing M. Chen, Decheng Zhou, Norman B. Bliss, Tamara Wilson, Jason T. Sherba, Qiuan Zhu, Yiqi Luo, Benjiamin Paulter
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Western Geographic Science Center

Quality control and assessment of interpreter consistency of annual land cover reference data in an operational national monitoring program

The U.S. Geological Survey Land Change Monitoring, Assessment and Projection (USGS LCMAP) initiative is working toward a comprehensive capability to characterize land cover and land cover change using dense Landsat time series data. A suite of products including annual land cover maps and annual land cover change maps will be produced using the Landsat 4-8 data record. LCMAP products will initiall
Authors
Bruce Pengra, Stephen V. Stehman, Josephine Horton, Daryn (Contractor) Dockter, Todd A. Schroeder, Zhiqiang Yang, Warren B Cohen, Sean P. Healey, Thomas Loveland
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection

Transitioning from change detection to monitoring with remote sensing: A paradigm shift

The use of time series analysis with moderate resolution satellite imagery is increasingly common, particularly since the advent of freely available Landsat data. Dense time series analysis is providing new information on the timing of landscape changes, as well as improving the quality and accuracy of information being derived from remote sensing. Perhaps most importantly, time series analysis is
Authors
Curtis E. Woodcock, Thomas Loveland, Martin Herold, Marvin E. Bauer
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

Lessons learned implementing an operational continuous United States national land change monitoring capability: The Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) approach

Growing demands for temporally specific information on land surface change are fueling a new generation of maps and statistics that can contribute to understanding geographic and temporal patterns of change across large regions, provide input into a wide range of environmental modeling studies, clarify the drivers of change, and provide more timely information for land managers. To meet these need
Authors
Jesslyn F. Brown, Heather J. Tollerud, Christopher Barber, Qiang Zhou, John L. Dwyer, James Vogelmann, Thomas Loveland, Curtis Woodcock, Stephen V. Stehman, Zhe Zhu, Bruce Pengra, Kelcy Smith, Josephine Horton, George Z. Xian, Roger F. Auch, Terry L. Sohl, Kristi Sayler, Alisa L. Gallant, Daniel Zelenak, Ryan R. Reker, Jennifer R. Rover
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection

Application of a regional climate model to assess changes in the climatology of the Eastern US and Cuba associated with historic landcover change

We examine the annual, seasonal, monthly, and diurnal climate responses to the land use change (LUC) in eastern United States and Cuba during four epochs (1650, 1850, 1920, and 1992) with ensemble simulations conducted with the RegCM4 regional climate model that includes the Biosphere Atmosphere Transfer Scheme (BATS1e) surface physics package (Dickinson et al., 1993). We derived the land use (LU)
Authors
Steven W. Hostetler, R Reker, Jay R. Alder, Thomas Loveland, Debra A. Willard, Christopher E. Bernhardt, Eric T. Sundquist, Renee L. Thompson
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Cooperative Research Units, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Florence Bascom Geoscience Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center

Drought and land-cover conditions in the Great Plains

Land–atmosphere interactions play a critical role in the Earth system, and a better understanding of these interactions could improve weather and climate models. The interaction among drought, vegetation productivity, and land cover is of particular significance. In a semiarid environment, such as the U.S. Great Plains, droughts can have a large influence on the productivity of agriculture and gra
Authors
Heather J. Tollerud, Jesslyn F. Brown, Thomas Loveland, Rezaul Mahmood, Norman B. Bliss
By
Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
Pecora 22 Call for Special Session Proposals

Pecora 22 Call for Special Session Proposals

The 22nd William T. Pecora Memorial Remote Sensing Symposium (Pecora 22) will be held October 23 – 28, 2022 in Denver, Colorado, USA.

Read Article
USGS and NASA Select New Landsat Science Team

USGS and NASA Select New Landsat Science Team

The USGS and NASA have selected the scientists and engineers who will serve on the next Landsat Science Team. 

Read Article
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