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At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
USGS1976

Use of USGS earth-science products by county planning agencies in the San Francisco Bay region, California

An inventory of the use of USGS products in selected planning studies, plans, ordinances, and other planning activities was made for eight counties in the San Francisco Bay region--a region of almost five million people. This inventory was designed to determine and document the use of the 87 earth-science information products prepared as a part of the San Francisco Bay Region Environment and Resources Planning Study (SFBRS). The inventory showed that: (1) all eight counties had planning staffs who were very familiar with SFBRS products and had made frequent use of such products; (2) all eight counties had prepared planning documents which cite SFBRS products; (3) the types of planning applications most often indicated were: geologic hazards studies, seismic safety and public safety plan elements, general reference, and the preparation and review of environmental impact reports and statements; (4) over 90 percent of the 87 SFBRS products were used at least once, and nine of the products were used over 30 times each for various county planning activities; and (5) at least 85 other USGS products were also used for various county planning activities. After the inventory, selected county officials, employees, and consultants were interviewed and asked--among other things--to indicate any problems in the use of the SFBRS products, to suggest improvements, and to identify any needed or desired earth-science information. The responses showed that: (1) the scales commonly used for working maps were 1:62,500 or larger and for plan implementation were 1:24,000 or larger; (2) only one county had a geologist on its planning staff, although six others had the benefit of geotechnical services from private consulting firms, county engineering staffs, or the State Division of Mines and Geology; (3) seven of the eight counties expressed some problems in using the products, primarily because of their small scale or lack of detail; (4) all eight counties expected to continue to use the products and expressed a need or desire for additional earth-science, engineering, or other information; (5) all eight counties suggested specific improvements to future products, primarily larger scale or more detail and fewer technical or more interpretive products; and (6) all eight counties received educational, advisory, and review services from USGS personnel. Seventeen selected examples of the application of SFBRS products to various county planning activities are discussed and illustrated. These examples include four planning studies, seven plans, and two ordinances. From the inventory and responses to the interviews, it is concluded that the counties in the Bay region are very familiar with, have made frequent use of, and will continue to use SFBRS products for a wide range of county planning activities. Suggestions to ensure more effective use of earth-science information in the future include: (1) monitoring emerging critical issues and analyzing new state and federal laws and regulations so as to better anticipate and respond to county earth-science information needs; (2) creating a users advisory committee to help identify critical issues and user needs; (3) providing engineering interpretations and land- and water-use capability ratings to make earth-science information more readily usable; (4) giving priority to areas impacted by development so as to husband staff resources; (5) providing earth-science information at the larger scale and greater detail commonly used and needed by counties; (6) releasing earth-science information earlier and according to a formal distribution pattern; and (7) providing educational, advisory, and review services in connection with any earth-science information designed for planners and decisionmakers.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2019

An introduction to the “Oceans and Society: Blue Planet” Initiative

We live on a blue planet, and Earth’s waters benefit many sectors of society. The future of our blue planet is increasingly reliant on the services delivered by marine, coastal and inland waters and on the advancement of effective, evidence-based decisions on sustainable development. “Oceans and Society: Blue Planet” (hereafter denoted as “GEO Blue Planet”) is an initiative of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) that aims to ensure the sustained development and use of ocean and coastal observations for the benefit of society. GEO Blue Planet works to advance and exploit synergies among the many observational programmes devoted to ocean and coastal waters; to improve engagement with a variety of stakeholders for enhancing the timeliness, quality and range of information delivered; and to raise awareness of the societal benefits of ocean observations at the public and policy levels. This paper summarizes the role of GEO Blue Planet, current activities and considerations for future directions.

Journal of Operational Oceanography↗
USGS1982

Earthquakes and plate tectonics.

Earthquakes occur at the following three kinds of plate boundary: ocean ridges where the plates are pulled apart, margins where the plates scrape past one another, and margins where one plate is thrust under the other. Thus, we can predict the general regions on the earth's surface where we can expect large earthquakes in the future. We know that each year about 140 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater will occur within this area which is 10% of the earth's surface. But on a worldwide basis we cannot say with much accuracy when these events will occur. The reason is that the processes in plate tectonics have been going on for millions of years. Averaged over this interval, plate motions amount to several mm per year. But at any instant in geologic time, for example the year 1982, we do not know, exactly where we are in the worldwide cycle of strain build-up and strain release. Only by monitoring the stress and strain in small areas, for instance, the San Andreas fault, in great detail can we hope to predict when renewed activity in that part of the plate tectonics arena is likely to take place. -from Author

Impact of Science on Society↗
USGS2011

Treading lightly on shifting ground: The direction and motivation of future geological research

The future of the geosciences and geological research will involve complex scientific challenges, primarily concerning global and regional environmental issues, in the next 20-30 years. It is quite reasonable to suspect, based on current political and socioeconomic events, that young geoscientists will be faced with and involved in helping to resolve some well defined problems: water and energy security, the effects of anthropogenic climate change, coastal sea level rise and development, and the mitigation of geohazards. It is how we choose to approach these challenges that will define our future. Interdisciplinary applied research, improved modeling and prediction augmented with faster and more sophisticated computing, and a greater role in creating and guiding public policy, will help us achieve our goals of a cleaner and safer Earth environment in the next 30 years. In the far future, even grander possibilities for eliminating the risk of certain geohazards and finding sustainable solutions to our energy needs can be envisioned. Looking deeper into the future, the possibilities for geoscience research push the limits of the imagination.

Episodes↗
USGS1979

Use of U.S. Geological Survey earth-science products by selected regional agencies in the San Francisco Bay region, California

An inventory of the use of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) products in studies, plans, implementation, and other planning activities was made for seven selected regional agencies in the San Francisco Bay region -- a region of over five million people. This inventory was designed to determine and document the use of over 100 earth-science products prepared as a part of the San Francisco Bay Region Environment and Resources Planning Study (SFBRS). The inventory showed that: (1) all seven agencies have staff members who are familiar with SFBRS products and make frequent use of them; (2) all seven agencies have prepared planning documents citing SFBRS products; (3) the types of planning applications most often indicated were water-quality and physical resources studies, potential site evaluation, and general reference; (4) almost 80 percent of the over 100 SFBRS products were used at least once, and eleven of the products were used 20 or more times each for various regional planning activities; and (5) at least 46 other USGS products were also used for various regional planning activities. During the inventory, over 50 regional agency. officials, employees, and consultants were interviewed and asked -- among other things -- to indicate any problems they had noted in the use of the SFBRS products, to suggest improvements, and to identify any additional earth-science information needed or desired. The responses showed that: (1) the scales commonly used for "work" maps were 1:62,500 or larger, and for "implementation" maps were 1:24,000 or larger; (2) two agencies have a geologist on their planning staff, others have staff members with training or experience in earth-science or engineering, and all had the benefit of geotechnical services from outside their agency; (3) all seven agencies experienced some problems in using the products, primarily because the scale was too small or the detail not great enough; (4) all seven agencies expressed interest in the topical interpretive reports in preparation and a need or desire for additional earth-science, engineering, or other related information; (5) six of the seven agencies suggested specific improvements to future products -- primarily larger scale or more detail and less technical or more interpretive information; and (6) all seven agencies received educational, advisory or review services from USGS personnel. Fifteen selected examples of the application of SFBRS products to various regional planning activities are discussed and illustrated. These examples include six planning studies, five plans, two implementation activities, and two other types of activities. From the inventory and responses to the interviews, it is concluded that the selected regional agencies in the bay region are familiar with, make frequent use of, and will continue to use SFBRS products for a wide range of regional planning activities. Suggestions to ensure more effective use of earth-science information in the future include: (1) monitoring and analyzing new State and Federal laws or regulations and emerging critical issues so as to anticipate and respond to regional earth-science information needs; (2) creating a users advisory committee to help identify critical issues and needs; (3) providing engineering interpretations and land- and water-use capability ratings to make earth-science information more readily usable; (4) giving priority to areas impacted by development; (5) providing earth-science information at the larger scale and greater detail commonly used and needed by regional agencies; (6) releasing earth-science information faster and according to a formal distribution pattern; and (7) providing educational, advisory, and review services in connection with any earth-science information designed for planners and decisionmakers.

California↗
USGS2022

21st-century stagnation in unvegetated sand-sea activity

Sand seas are vast expanses of Earth’s surface containing large areas of aeolian dunes—topographic patterns manifest from above-threshold winds and a supply of loose sand. Predictions of the role of future climate change for sand-sea activity are sparse and contradictory. Here we examine the impact of climate on all of Earth’s presently-unvegetated sand seas, using ensemble runs of an Earth System Model for historical and future Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) scenarios. We find that almost all of the sand seas decrease in activity relative to present-day and industrial-onset for all future SSP scenarios, largely due to more intermittent sand-transport events. An increase in event wait-times and decrease in sand transport is conducive to vegetation growth. We expect dune-forming winds will become more unimodal, and produce larger incipient wavelengths, due to weaker and more seasonal winds. Our results indicate that these qualitative changes in Earth’s deserts cannot be mitigated.

Nature Communications↗
USGS2009

Planning for an uncertain future - Monitoring, integration, and adaptation

The 6.7 billion human inhabitants of the earth have the ability to drastically alter ecosystems and the populations of species that have taken eons to evolve. By better understanding how our actions affect the environment, we stand a better chance of designing successful strategies to manage ecosystems sustainably. Toward this end, the Third Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds (ICRW) was convened in Estes Park, CO, on September 8-11, 2008. The Conference provided a forum to present adaptive management as a practical tool for learning how to manage complex ecosystems more sustainably. Further complexity introduced by spatially variable and continuously changing environmental drivers favors this management approach because of its emphasis on adaptation in response to changing conditions or ineffective actions. For climate change in particular, an adaptive approach can more effectively accommodate the uncertainty in future climate scenarios. Scenarios compiled by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are built on distinct economic, energy, and societal models. The scenarios predict potential changes in greenhouse gases, temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric aerosols, which would have direct or indirect impacts on the timing, volume, and quality of runoff, vegetation, snowpack, stream temperature, groundwater, thawing permafrost, and icecaps. Through presentations and field trips, researchers and stakeholders described how their findings and issues fit into the adaptive management 'learning by doing' paradigm of Assess > Design > Implement > Monitor > Evaluate > Adjust > Assess.

Scientific Investigations Report↗
USGS2010

The thermal signature of volcanic eruptions on Io and Earth,

We investigate a spectrum-based technique to identify the style of active volcanic eruptions on Jupiter's moon Io. Thermal remote sensing of Io has had to rely primarily on low-spatial-resolution data, similar to low-spatial-resolution satellite data applied to detecting and charting the temporal evolution of terrestrial hot spots. These terrestrial analyses use data from sensors designed to monitor the weather and sea surface temperature. On Io, such low-spatial-resolution data are used to classify eruption styles (modes of emplacement) by means of several criteria related to the temporal evolution of the infrared spectrum associated with the eruptive activity at each hot spot, which we term “thermal signature.” We find that the ratio of the emission at 2 and 5 µm, and how this ratio changes with time, is often diagnostic of eruption style, even in low-spatial-resolution data. Tests using thermal data for terrestrial “ground truth” cases show that our classification system is valid on Earth. The results of our analysis can be used to aid in the design of future space-based instruments that can be used for volcano monitoring on Io, as well as Earth.

Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research↗
USGS2001

Earthquakes and tsunamis in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands

Many earthquakes and tsunamis have occurred in the northeastern Caribbean, where the movements of the Earth's surface plates are rapid and complicated. Future such events pose serious hazards to the 3.7 million people who live in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands↗
USGS2007

Preliminary Geologic Map of the Lake Mead 30' X 60' Quadrangle, Clark County, Nevada, and Mohave County, Arizona

Introduction The geologic map of the Lake Mead 30' x 60' quadrangle was completed for the U.S. Geological Survey's Las Vegas Urban Corridor Project and the National Parks Project, National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program. Lake Mead, which occupies the northern part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LAME), mostly lies within the Lake Mead quadrangle and provides recreation for about nine million visitors annually. The lake was formed by damming of the Colorado River by Hoover Dam in 1939. The recreation area and surrounding Bureau of Land Management lands face increasing public pressure from rapid urban growth in the Las Vegas area to the west. This report provides baseline earth science information that can be used in future studies of hazards, groundwater resources, mineral and aggregate resources, and of soils and vegetation distribution. The preliminary report presents a geologic map and GIS database of the Lake Mead quadrangle and a description and correlation of map units. The final report will include cross-sections and interpretive text. The geology was compiled from many sources, both published and unpublished, including significant new mapping that was conducted specifically for this compilation. Geochronologic data from published sources, as well as preliminary unpublished 40Ar/39Ar ages that were obtained for this report, have been used to refine the ages of formal Tertiary stratigraphic units and define new informal Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic units.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2019

Historical background and current developments for mapping burned area from satellite Earth observation

Fire has a diverse range of impacts on Earth's physical and social systems. Accurate and up to date information on areas affected by fire is critical to better understand drivers of fire activity, as well as its relevance for biogeochemical cycles , climate, air quality, and to aid fire management. Mapping burned areas was traditionally done from field sketches. With the launch of the first Earth observation satellites, remote sensing quickly became a more practical alternative to detect burned areas, as they provide timely regional and global coverage of fire occurrence. This review paper explores the physical basis to detect burned area from satellite observations, describes the historical trends of using satellite sensors to monitor burned areas, summarizes the most recent approaches to map burned areas and evaluates the existing burned area products (both at global and regional scales). Finally, it identifies potential future opportunities to further improve burned area detection from Earth observation satellites.

Remote Sensing of Environment↗
USGS2008

Arctic climate change and its impacts on the ecology of the North Atlantic

Arctic climate change from the Paleocene epoch to the present is reconstructed with the objective of assessing its recent and future impacts on the ecology of the North Atlantic. A recurring theme in Earth's paleoclimate record is the importance of the Arctic atmosphere, ocean, and cryosphere in regulating global climate on a variety of spatial and temporal scales. A second recurring theme in this record is the importance of freshwater export from the Arctic in regulating global- to basin-scale ocean circulation patterns and climate. Since the 1970s, historically unprecedented changes have been observed in the Arctic as climate warming has increased precipitation, river discharge, and glacial as well as sea-ice melting. In addition, modal shifts in the atmosphere have altered Arctic Ocean circulation patterns and the export of freshwater into the North Atlantic. The combination of these processes has resulted in variable patterns of freshwater export from the Arctic Ocean and the emergence of salinity anomalies that have periodically freshened waters in the North Atlantic. Since the early 1990s, changes in Arctic Ocean circulation patterns and freshwater export have been associated with two types of ecological responses in the North Atlantic. The first of these responses has been an ongoing series of biogeographic range expansions by boreal plankton, including renewal of the trans-Arctic exchanges of Pacific species with the Atlantic. The second response was a dramatic regime shift in the shelf ecosystems of the Northwest Atlantic that occurred during the early 1990s. This regime shift resulted from freshening and stratification of the shelf waters, which in turn could be linked to changes in the abundances and seasonal cycles of phytoplankton, zooplankton, and higher trophic-level consumer populations. It is predicted that the recently observed ecological responses to Arctic climate change in the North Atlantic will continue into the near future if current trends in sea ice, freshwater export, and surface ocean salinity continue. It is more difficult to predict ecological responses to abrupt climate change in the more distant future as tipping points in the Earth's climate system are exceeded.

Ecology↗
USGS2019

The NASA Roadmap to Ocean Worlds

In this article, we summarize the work of the NASA Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG) Roadmaps to Ocean Worlds (ROW) group. The aim of this group is to assemble the scientific framework that will guide the exploration of ocean worlds, and to identify and prioritize science objectives for ocean worlds over the next several decades. The overarching goal of an Ocean Worlds exploration program as defined by ROW is to “identify ocean worlds, characterize their oceans, evaluate their habitability, search for life, and ultimately understand any life we find.” The ROW team supports the creation of an exploration program that studies the full spectrum of ocean worlds, that is, not just the exploration of known ocean worlds such as Europa but candidate ocean worlds such as Triton as well. The ROW team finds that the confirmed ocean worlds Enceladus, Titan, and Europa are the highest priority bodies to target in the near term to address ROW goals. Triton is the highest priority candidate ocean world to target in the near term. A major finding of this study is that, to map out a coherent Ocean Worlds Program, significant input is required from studies here on Earth; rigorous Research and Analysis studies are called for to enable some future ocean worlds missions to be thoughtfully planned and undertaken. A second finding is that progress needs to be made in the area of collaborations between Earth ocean scientists and extraterrestrial ocean scientists.

Astrobiology↗
USGS2011

Future directions in geobiology and low-temperature geochemistry

Humanity is confronted with an enormous challenge, as succinctly stated by the late Steven Schneider (2001; quoted by Jantzen 2004*): “Humans are forcing the Earth’s environmental systems to change at a rate that is more advanced than their knowledge of the consequences.” Geobiologists and low-temperature geochemists characterize material from the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere to understand processes operating within and between these components of the Earth system from the atomic to the planetary scale. For this reason, the interwoven disciplines of geobiology and low-temperature geochemistry are central to understanding and ultimately predicting the behavior of these life-sustaining systems. We present here comments and recommendations from the participants of a workshop entitled “Future Directions in Geobiology and Low-Temperature Geochemistry,” hosted by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Geophysical Laboratory, Washington, DC, on 27–28 August 2010. The goal of the workshop was to suggest ways to leverage the vast intellectual and analytical capabilities of our diverse scientific community to characterize the Earth’s past, present, and future geochemical habitat as we enter the second decade of what E. O. Wilson dubbed “the century of the environment.”

Elements↗
USGS2019

User needs for future Landsat missions

Landsat satellites have been operating since 1972, providing the longest continuous observation record of the Earth’s land surface. Over the past half century, the Landsat user community has grown exponentially, encompassing more diverse and evolving scientific research and operational uses. Understanding current and future user needs is crucial to informing the design of Landsat missions beyond Landsat 9. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) initiated a user needs collection process to document needs from U.S. Federal civil subject matter experts who rely on moderate-resolution land imaging data across a diverse range of scientific research and application domains. In total, 379 moderate-resolution land imaging user needs were collected through structured interviews. The findings indicate that, at present, users need continuity in Landsat capabilities with free and open data access. Improvements to future Landsat systems should include 10 m spatial resolution and at least weekly cloud-free observation frequency. Spectral enhancements should include the addition of red edge bands, and multiple, narrower visible, near infrared, shortwave infrared, and thermal infrared bands. Ideally, a variety of applications need continuous, full-spectrum coverage in 10 nm-wide bands spanning the visible to shortwave infrared (VSWIR) region (400–2500 nm) and 5 to 8 multispectral thermal infrared bands. Non-Federal (state, local, commercial, academic, and international) sources found similar results, but a more comprehensive comparison across these communities through a broader survey may provide additional insights. USGS-collected moderate-resolution land imaging user needs are an input to the Landsat 10 Architecture Study to develop and assess feasible Landsat 10 mission architectures.

Remote Sensing of Environment↗
USGS2020

Quantifying uncertainty for remote spectroscopy of surface composition

Remote surface measurements by imaging spectrometers play an important role in planetary and Earth science. To make these measurements, investigators calibrate instrument data to absolute units, invert physical models to estimate atmospheric effects, and then determine surface properties from the spectral reflectance. This study quantifies the uncertainty in this process. Global missions demand predictive uncertainty models that can estimate future errors for varied environments and observing conditions. Here we validate uncertainty predictions with remote surface composition retrievals and in situ measurements in a field analogue of Earth and planetary exploration. We consider rover transects at Cuprite, Nevada, and remote observations by NASA's Next- Generation Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS-NG). We show that accounting for input uncertainties can benefit mineral detection methods such as constrained spectrum fitting. This suggests that operational uncertainty estimates could improve future NASA missions like the Earth Mineral dust source InvesTigation (EMIT) and the Lunar Trailblazer mission, as well as NASA's Decadal Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) Investigation.

Remote Sensing of Environment↗
USGS2011

Sensitivity of Pliocene ice sheets to orbital forcing

The stability of the Earth's major ice sheets is a critical uncertainty in predictions of future climate and sea level change. One method of investigating the behaviour of the Greenland and the Antarctic ice sheets in a warmer-than-modern climate is to look back at past warm periods of Earth history, for example the Pliocene. This paper presents climate and ice sheet modelling results for the mid-Pliocene warm period (mPWP; 3.3 to 3.0 million years ago), which has been identified as a key interval for understanding warmer-than-modern climates (Jansen et al., 2007). Using boundary conditions supplied by the United States Geological Survey PRISM Group (Pliocene Research, Interpretation and Synoptic Mapping), the Hadley Centre coupled ocean–atmosphere climate model (HadCM3) and the British Antarctic Survey Ice Sheet Model (BASISM), we show large reductions in the Greenland and East Antarctic Ice Sheets (GrIS and EAIS) compared to modern in standard mPWP experiments. We also present the first results illustrating the variability of the ice sheets due to realistic orbital forcing during the mid-Pliocene. While GrIS volumes are lower than modern under even the most extreme (cold) mid-Pliocene orbit (losing at least 35% of its ice mass), the EAIS can both grow and shrink, losing up to 20% or gaining up to 10% of its present-day volume. The changes in ice sheet volume incurred by altering orbital forcing alone means that global sea level can vary by more than 25 m during the mid-Pliocene. However, we have also shown that the response of the ice sheets to mPWP orbital hemispheric forcing can be in anti-phase, whereby the greatest reductions in EAIS volume are concurrent with the smallest reductions of the GrIS. If this anti-phase relationship is in operation throughout the mPWP, then the total eustatic sea level response would be dampened compared to the ice sheet fluctuations that are theoretically possible. This suggests that maximum eustatic sea level rise does not correspond to orbital maxima, but occurs at times where the anti-phasing of Northern and Southern Hemisphere ice sheet retreat is minimised.

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology↗
USGS2019

Assessing beach and island habitat loss in the Chesapeake Bay and Delmarva coastal bay region, USA, through processing of Landsat TM and OLI imagery: A case study

Beaches and islands provide economic value to humans and critical habitat for breeding and foraging wildlife. These ecosystems, however, are being severely impacted by global climate change and sea level rise through increased erosion and frequency of inundation. The case study presented here aimed to document island loss in the Chesapeake Bay and Delmarva coastal bay region of the United States using image processing techniques within a GIS from 1986 to 2016. Satellite imagery from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Operational Land Imager (OLI) sensors were processed within ArcMap 10.5 to determine spatial and temporal trends in island and beach habitat. Calculation of unweighted Cohen’s Kappa showed that classified scenes were, on average, within the range of moderate agreement between the classified Landsat scenes and the validation imagery within Google Earth (0.539). Recommendations regarding existing beach habitat management and future supplementation were created based on these results. From 1986 to 2016, island area declined by over 1,200 hectares (ha) with agriculture/open field (all open vegetated spaces) declining by nearly 82% and beach, surprisingly, increasing nearly 2%. This study was the first to document Chesapeake Bay region-wide island loss beyond the mid-2000s. The accuracy of this study was limited slightly by the 30 m spatial resolution of the imagery used. This technique may be best suited for documenting trends on large islands and along the mainland coastline.

Maryland, Virginia↗