Unified Interior Regions

The study of the Earth's natural life cycles is known as phenology. Scientists track the emergence of shoots and leaves, blooming flowers and pollinators as phenological signals every spring. Spring has sprung earlier than usual in much of the United States this year. The USA National Phenology Network notes that much of the country has seen spring come 3 to 4 weeks faster

The smell of a fresh cut Christmas tree can evoke visions of majestic evergreen forests teeming with winter wildlife. In truth, more than half of U.S. Christmas trees come from farms in Oregon, North Carolina, or Michigan. Cut Christmas Trees area commodity, tracked by the U.S. Department of Agriculture just like corn or soybeans. These USDA aerial images show tree harvest

Sean Egen, hydrologic technician, installs a storm tide sensor
at River Dunes Marina in Pamlico County, NC

Tree-ring analyses from Lassiter Swamp, located along a tributary of the Chowan River, indicate that cypress trees have occupied the site for at least 500 years. To extend the record even farther back in time, scientists from USGS, Duke University and East Carolina University are working together with students at C.S. Brown High School STEM in Winton, NC to study sediment

This is a graphic from the USGS National Oil and Gas Assessment Explorer application, which allows user to drill into 70 oil and gas assessment provinces throughout the United States.

Hurricane Florence hit the Carolina coast on September 14, 2018, but it took much longer for the full impact to emerge.
Remotely-sensed images show the slow devastation that 13 trillion gallons of rain can bring as it moves back toward the sea.
Each week, the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center highlights a new satellite image(s) featuring

This flood event viewer map, dated Oct. 3, 2018, shows the extent and type of information collected by USGS hydrologists in North and South Carolina in the wake of historic flooding brought on by Hurricane Florence.

USGS hydrographer Daniel McCay uses a level to double-check a high water mark on a church door near Maxton, NC as his USGS colleague Mary Winsor observes on Sept. 25, 2018, in the wake of flooding brought on by Hurricane Florence.

USGS hydrologic technician Rob Forde flags a high water mark above the eaves at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant, 118 Manchester Road, Spring Hill, North Carolina on Sept. 21, 2018, in the wake of flooding brought on by Hurricane Florence.

An important conservation strategy for climate change is to enhance and maintain regional habitat connectivity for the long-term viability of wildlife populations. Modeling habitat connectivity for wildlife species often results in a mapped network of linkages between habitat patches. A critical next step is to determine which of those linkages are priorities for

USGS hydrographer Kyle Marchman measures a high water mark on the rear wall of a Kangaroo gas station on Highway 24 north of Fayetteville, NC on Sept. 18, 2018, after flooding caused by Hurricane Florence.