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At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
USGS2022

Keeping an eye on water quality from the sky

You can learn a lot about rivers, lakes, estuaries, and oceans by looking down at them from the sky. Scientists use a technique called remote sensing to measure the amount of light or heat energy reflected and emitted from the Earth. Sensors can be on satellites or mounted on airplanes, helicopters, or drones. Scientists use this information to map the quality of water in the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary. Remote sensing helps scientists see where and when there might be problems for human health or for the plants and animals living in the estuary.

California↗
USGS1990

Historical Landsat data comparisons: illustrations of land surface change

The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) EROS Data Center (EDC) has archived two decades of Landsat data, providing a rich collection of information about the dynamics of the Earth's land surface. Major changes to the surface features of the planet can be detected, measured, and studied using Landsat data. The effects of desertification, deforestation, pollution, cataclysmic volcanic activity, and other natural and anthropogenic events can be examined by resource scientists using data acquired from the Landsat series of Earth-observing satellites. The availability of a nearly uninterrupted flow of information from the Landsats, in a consistent data format, gives researchers an important tool for studying surface changes over time. This booklet provides an overview of the Landsat program and shows the application of the data to monitor changes occurring on the surface of the Earth. To show changes that have taken place within the last 20 years or less, image pairs were constructed from the Landsat multispectral scanner (MSS) and thematic mapper (TM) sensors. Landsat MSS data provide a historical global record of the land surface from the early 1970's to present. Landsat TM data provide land surface information from the early 1980's to present.

Report↗
USGS2016

Landsat Science Team: 2016 winter meeting summary

The winter meeting of the joint U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)–NASA Landsat Science Team (LST) was held January 12-14, 2016, at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, VA. LST co-chairs Tom Loveland [USGS’s Earth Resources Observation and Science Data Center (EROS)—Senior Scientist] and Jim Irons [NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)—Landsat 8 Project Scientist] welcomed more than 50 participants to the three-day meeting. The main objectives of this meeting focused on identifying priorities and approaches to improve the global moderate-resolution satellite record. Overall, the meeting was geared more towards soliciting team member recommendations on several rapidly evolving issues, than on providing updates on individual research activities. All the presentations given at the meeting are available at landsat.usgs. gov//science_LST_january2016.php.

The Earth Observer↗
USGS2004

Landsat yesterday and today: An American vision and an old challenge

Since the late 1960s, the United States government has invested more than $1 billion in designing, launching, and operating the Landsat (land satellite) series of Earth-observing satellites. Global change researchers, geologists, and environmental scientists have used images gathered by the satellites for purposes ranging from human health research, energy exploration, and pollution detection to agricultural assessments, urban growth monitoring, and earthquake lineament studies. The earliest data were captured on a digital medium called wide-band video tape (WBVT). However, two decades of unsound media storage conditions and a poorly maintained processing system have left the physically deteriorating WBVTs with no mechanism for interpretation. A national treasure was in jeopardy. With seed money from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a project to rescue the data. More than 21,000 tapes from the 1970s have been transcribed to stable, archival media, preserving the data for future studies in Earth System Science.

Journal of Map & Geography Libraries↗
USGS2002

Abstracts for the symposium on the application of neural networks to the earth sciences

Artificial neural networks are a group of mathematical methods that attempt to mimic some of the processes in the human mind. Although the foundations for these ideas were laid as early as 1943 (McCulloch and Pitts, 1943), it wasn't until 1986 (Rumelhart and McClelland, 1986; Masters, 1995) that applications to practical problems became possible. It is the acknowledged superiority of the human mind at recognizing patterns that the artificial neural networks are trying to imitate with their interconnected neurons. Interconnections used in the methods that have been developed allow robust learning. Capabilities of neural networks fall into three kinds of applications: (1) function fitting or prediction, (2) noise reduction or pattern recognition, and (3) classification or placing into types. Because of these capabilities and the powerful abilities of artificial neural networks, there have been increasing applications of these methods in the earth sciences. The abstracts in this document represent excellent samples of the range of applications. Talks associated with the abstracts were presented at the Symposium on the Application of Neural Networks to the Earth Sciences: Seventh International Symposium on Mineral Exploration (ISME–02), held August 20–21, 2002, at NASA Moffett Field, Mountain View, California. This symposium was sponsored by the Mining and Materials Processing Institute of Japan (MMIJ), the U.S. Geological Survey, the Circum-Pacific Council, and NASA. The ISME symposia have been held every two years in order to bring together scientists actively working on diverse quantitative methods applied to the earth sciences. Although the title, International Symposium on Mineral Exploration, suggests exclusive focus on mineral exploration, interests and presentations have always been wide-ranging—abstracts presented here are no exception.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2010

Western Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center--providing comprehensive earth science for complex societal issues

Minerals in the environment and products manufactured from mineral materials are all around us and we use and come into contact with them every day. They impact our way of life and the health of all that lives. Minerals are critical to the Nation's economy and knowing where future mineral resources will come from is important for sustaining the Nation's economy and national security. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Resources Program (MRP) provides scientific information for objective resource assessments and unbiased research results on mineral resource potential, production and consumption statistics, as well as environmental consequences of mining. The MRP conducts this research to provide information needed for land planners and decisionmakers about where mineral commodities are known and suspected in the earth's crust and about the environmental consequences of extracting those commodities. As part of the MRP scientists of the Western Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center (WMERSC or 'Center' herein) coordinate the development of national, geologic, geochemical, geophysical, and mineral-resource databases and the migration of existing databases to standard models and formats that are available to both internal and external users. The unique expertise developed by Center scientists over many decades in response to mineral-resource-related issues is now in great demand to support applications such as public health research and remediation of environmental hazards that result from mining and mining-related activities. Western Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center Results of WMERSC research provide timely and unbiased analyses of minerals and inorganic materials to (1) improve stewardship of public lands and resources; (2) support national and international economic and security policies; (3) sustain prosperity and improve our quality of life; and (4) protect and improve public health, safety, and environmental quality. The MRP supports approximately 40 USGS research specialists who utilize cooperative agreements with universities, industry, and other governmental agencies to support their collaborative research and information exchange. Scientists of the WMERSC study how and where non-fuel mineral resources form and are concentrated in the earth's crust, where mineral resources might be found in the future, and how mineral materials interact with the environment to affect human and ecosystem health. Natural systems (ecosystems) are complex - our understanding of how ecosystems operate requires collecting and synthesizing large amounts of geologic, geochemical, biologic, hydrologic, and meteorological information. Scientists in the Center strive to understand the interplay of various processes and how they affect the structure, composition, and health of ecosystems. Such understanding, which is then summarized in publicly available reports, is used to address and solve a wide variety of issues that are important to society and the economy. WMERSC scientists have extensive national and international experience in these scientific specialties and capabilities - they have collaborated with many Federal, State, and local agencies; with various private sector organizations; as well as with foreign countries and organizations. Nearly every scientific and societal challenge requires a different combination of scientific skills and capabilities. With their breadth of scientific specialties and capabilities, the scientists of the WMERSC can provide scientifically sound approaches to a wide range of societal challenges and issues. The following sections describe examples of important issues that have been addressed by scientists in the Center, the methods employed, and the relevant conclusions. New directions are inevitable as societal needs change over time. Scientists of the WMERSC have a diverse set of skills and capabilities and are proficient in the collection and integration of

Circular↗
USGS1986

USGS research on energy resources, 1986; program and abstracts

The extended abstracts in this volume are summaries of the papers presented orally and as posters in the second V. E. McKelvey Forum on Mineral and Energy Resources, entitled "USGS Research on Energy Resources-1986." The Forum has been established to improve communication between the USGS and the earth science community by presenting the results of current USGS research on nonrenewable resources in a timely fashion and by providing an opportunity for individuals from other organizations to meet informally with USGS scientists and managers. It is our hope that the McKelvey Forum will help to make USGS programs more responsive to the needs of the earth science community, particularly the mining and petroleum industries, and Win foster closer cooperation between organizations and individuals. The Forum was named after former Director Vincent E. McKelvey in recognition of his lifelong contributions to research, development, and administration in mineral and energy resources, as a scientist, as Chief Geologist, and as Director of the U.S. Geological Survey. The Forum will be an annual event, and its subject matter will alternate between mineral and energy resources. We expect that the format will change somewhat from year to year as various approaches are tried, but its primary purpose will remain the same: to encourage direct communication between USGS scientists and the representatives of other earth-science related organizations. Energy programs of the USGS include oil and gas, coal, geothermal, uranium-thorium, and oil shale; work in these programs spans the national domain, including surveys of the offshore Exclusive Economic Zone. The topics selected for presentation at this McKelvey Forum represent an overview of the scientific breadth of USGS research on energy resources. They include aspects of petroleum occurrence in Eastern United States rift basins, the origin of magnetic anomalies over oil fields, accreted terranes and energy-resource implications, coal quality, geothermal energy sources, integrated geology and chemistry in uranium-deposit studies, and interpretations of sea-floor geology seen in reconnaissance-scale sidescan-sonar mosaics of the Gulf of Mexico and west coast Exclusive Economic Zone. Data are presented that are being used in building models of geothermal energy settings, basin histories, and the occurrence of energy resources. In addition to the technical sessions presenting the results of USGS research, each congressionally mandated USGS Mineral Resource Program has a display outlining plans and progress. We are all excited about this continuing opportunity to disseminate and discuss our research with our colleagues in industry and academia, and we welcome your suggestions on improving this series of Forums.

Circular↗
USGS2009

Cross-comparison of the IRS-P6 AWiFS sensor with the L5 TM, L7 ETM+, & Terra MODIS sensors

As scientists and decision makers increasingly rely on multiple Earth-observing satellites to address urgent global issues, it is imperative that they can rely on the accuracy of Earth-observing data products. This paper focuses on the crosscomparison of the Indian Remote Sensing (IRS-P6) Advanced Wide Field Sensor (AWiFS) with the Landsat 5 (L5) Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 7 (L7) Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), and Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors. The cross-comparison was performed using image statistics based on large common areas observed by the sensors within 30 minutes. Because of the limited availability of simultaneous observations between the AWiFS and the Landsat and MODIS sensors, only a few images were analyzed. These initial results are presented. Regression curves and coefficients of determination for the top-of-atmosphere (TOA) trends from these sensors were generated to quantify the uncertainty in these relationships and to provide an assessment of the calibration differences between these sensors. ?? 2009 SPIE.

Conference Paper↗
USGS1971

Mapping from space

Remote sensing of the earth promises to become an operational tool of the engineer and the scientist within the next few years. There are no real technical limits on the uses of data from space sensors. However, it is not practical to fly special missions, particularly in space, for each specific use. General-purpose, earth-sensing missions aimed at meeting a wide variety of requirements must be defined. Engineers must help define earth-sensing missions, based on the concepts of repetitive coverage, multispectral response, and spatial correlation.

Journal of the Surveying and Mapping Division↗
USGS2014

Terrestrial reference standard sites for postlaunch sensor calibration

In an era when the number of Earth observation satellites is rapidly growing and measurements from satellite sensors are used to address increasingly urgent global issues, often through synergistic and operational combinations of data from multiple sources, it is imperative that scientists and decision-makers are able to rely on the accuracy of Earth observation data products. The characterization and calibration of these sensors, particularly their relative biases, are vital to the success of the developing integrated Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) for coordinated and sustained observations of the Earth. This can only reliably be achieved in the postlaunch environment through the careful use of observations by multiple sensor systems over common, well-characterized terrestrial targets (i.e., on or near the Earth's surface). Through greater access to and understanding of these vital reference standard sites and their use, the validity and utility of information gained from Earth remote sensing will continue to improve. This paper provides a brief overview of the use of reference standard sites for postlaunch sensor radiometric calibration from historical, current, and future perspectives. Emphasis is placed on optical sensors operating in the visible, near-infrared, and shortwave infrared spectral regions.

Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing↗
USGS2022

How beavers are changing Arctic landscapes and Earth’s climate

Beavers build dams that change the way water moves between streams, lakes, and the land. In Alaska, beavers are moving north from the forests into the Arctic tundra. When beavers build dams in the Arctic, they cause frozen soil, called permafrost, to thaw. Scientists are studying how beavers and the thawing of permafrost are impacting streams and rivers in Alaska’s national parks. For example, permafrost thaw from beavers can add harmful substances like mercury to streams. Mercury can be taken up by stream food webs, including fish, which then become unhealthy to eat. Permafrost thaw can also move carbon (from dead plants) to beaver ponds. When this carbon decomposes, it can be released from beaver ponds into the air as greenhouse gases, which cause Earth’s climate to warm. Scientists are trying to keep up with these busy beavers to better understand how they are changing Arctic landscapes and Earth’s climate.

Alaska↗
USGS1996

Use of SAR data to study active volcanoes in Alaska

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data of the Westdahl, Veniaminof, and Novarupta volcanoes in the Aleutian Arc of Alaska were analysed to investigate recent surface volcanic processes. These studies support ongoing monitoring and research by the Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) in the North Pacific Ocean Region. Landforms and possible crustal deformation before, during, or after eruptions were detected and analysed using data from the European Remote Sensing Satellites (ERS), the Japanese Earth Resources Satellite (JERS) and the US Seasat platforms. Field observations collected by scientists from the AVO were used to verify the results from the analysis of SAR data.

Earth Observation Quarterly↗
USGS2016

Global trends in satellite-based emergency mapping

Over the past 15 years, scientists and disaster responders have increasingly used satellite-based Earth observations for global rapid assessment of disaster situations. We review global trends in satellite rapid response and emergency mapping from 2000 to 2014, analyzing more than 1000 incidents in which satellite monitoring was used for assessing major disaster situations. We provide a synthesis of spatial patterns and temporal trends in global satellite emergency mapping efforts and show that satellite-based emergency mapping is most intensively deployed in Asia and Europe and follows well the geographic, physical, and temporal distributions of global natural disasters. We present an outlook on the future use of Earth observation technology for disaster response and mitigation by putting past and current developments into context and perspective.

Science↗
USGS2012

Beryllium--important for national defense

Beryllium is one of the lightest and stiffest metals, but there was little industrial demand for it until the 1930s and 1940s when the aerospace, defense, and nuclear sectors began using beryllium and its compounds. Beryllium is now classified by the U.S. Department of Defense as a strategic and critical material because it is used in products that are vital to national security. The oxide form of beryllium was identified in 1797, and scientists first isolated metallic beryllium in 1828. The United States is the world's leading source of beryllium. A single mine at Spor Mountain, Utah, produced more than 85 percent of the beryllium mined worldwide in 2010. China produced most of the remainder, and less than 2 percent came from Mozambique and other countries. National stockpiles also provide significant amounts of beryllium for processing. To help predict where future beryllium supplies might be located, U.S.Geological Survey (USGS) scientists study how and where beryllium resources are concentrated in Earth's crust and use that knowledge to assess the likelihood that undiscovered beryllium resources may exist. Techniques to assess mineral resources have been developed by the USGS to support the stewardship of Federal lands and to better evaluate mineral resource availability in a global context. The USGS also compiles statistics and information on the worldwide supply of, demand for, and flow of beryllium. These data are used to inform U.S. national policymaking.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2009

Preliminary Physical Stratigraphy and Geophysical Data From the USGS Dixon Core, Onslow County, North Carolina

In October through November 2006, scientists from the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) Eastern Region Earth Surface Processes Team (EESPT) and the Raleigh (N.C.) Water Science Center (WSC), in cooperation with the North Carolina Geological Survey (NCGS) and the Onslow County Water and Sewer Authority (ONWASA), drilled a stratigraphic test hole and well in Onslow County, N.C. The Dixon corehole was cored on ONWASA water utility property north of the town of Dixon, N.C., in the Sneads Ferry 7.5-minute quadrangle at latitude 34deg33'35' N, longitude 77deg26'54' W (decimal degrees 34.559722 and -77.448333). The site elevation is 66.0 feet (ft) above mean sea level as determined using a Paulin precision altimeter. The corehole attained a total depth of 1,010 ft and was continuously cored by the USGS EESPT drilling crew. A groundwater monitoring well was installed in the screened interval between 234 and 254 ft below land surface. The section cored at this site includes Upper Cretaceous, Paleogene, and Neogene sediments. The Dixon core is stored at the NCGS Coastal Plain core storage facility in Raleigh. The Dixon corehole is the fourth and last in a series of planned North Carolina benchmark coreholes drilled by the USGS Coastal Carolina Project. These coreholes explore the physical stratigraphy, facies, and thickness of Cretaceous, Paleogene, and Neogene Coastal Plain sediments in North Carolina. Correlations of lithologies, facies, and sequence stratigraphy can be made with the Hope Plantation corehole, N.C., near Windsor in Bertie County (Weems and others, 2007); the Elizabethtown corehole, near Elizabethtown, N.C., in Bladen County (Self-Trail and others, 2004b); the Smith Elementary School corehole, near Cove City, N.C., in Craven County (Harris and Self-Trail, 2006; Crocetti, 2007); the Kure Beach corehole, near Wilmington, N.C., in New Hanover County (Self-Trail and others, 2004a); the Esso#1, Esso #2, Mobil #1, and Mobil #2 cores in Albermarle and Pamlico Sounds, N.C. (Zarra, 1989); and the Cape Fear River outcrops in Bladen County, N.C. (Farrell, 1998; Farrell and others, 2001). This report contains the lithostratigraphic summary recorded at the drill site, core photographs, geophysical data, and calcareous nannofossil biostratigraphic correlations.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2017

Devils Hole, Nevada—A photographic story of a restricted subaqueous environment

This report presents selected photographic images taken by the author during U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) research into paleoclimatology and geochemistry in Devils Hole cavern during 1984 to 1993 in cooperation with the National Park Service. The unaltered suite of photographs was prepared by the USGS dive team as an aid to assist nondiving scientists with a visual perspective of the environment where earth-science samples were collected and subsequently analyzed for chemical and isotopic composition.

Nevada↗
USGS2020

Drought early warning and forecasting

Drought risk management involves three pillars: drought early warning, drought vulnerability and risk assessment, and drought preparedness, mitigation, and response. This book collects in one place a description of all the key components of the first pillar, and describes strategies for fitting these pieces together. The best modern drought early warning systems incorporate and integrate a broad array of environmental information sources: weather station observations, satellite imagery, land surface and crop model simulations, and weather and climate model forecasts, and analyze this information in context-relevant ways that take into account exposure and vulnerability. Drought Early Warning and Forecasting: Theory and Practice assembles a comprehensive overview of these components, providing examples drawn from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network and the United States Drought Monitor. This book simultaneously addresses the physical, social, and information management aspects of drought early warning, and informs readers about the tools, techniques, and conceptual models required to effectively identify, predict, and communicate potential drought-related disasters. This book is a key text for postgraduate scientists and graduate and advanced undergraduate students in hydrology, geography, earth sciences, meteorology, climatology, and environmental sciences programs. Professionals dealing with disaster management and drought forecasting will also find this book beneficial to their work.

Book↗
USGS1979

Minerals, lands, and geology for the common defence and general welfare, Volume 1, Before 1879 : A history of public lands, federal science and mapping policy, and development of mineral resources in the United States

This volume, the first of a four-volume study, is concerned with events in the United States before the establishment of the U.S. Geological Survey, during the years in which geology evolved as a science and began to influence economic development and national policy. Subsequent volumes continue the story but focus on the Survey and its role in the events and developments of later years. The method of analysis demonstrates that knowledge of the Earth and its history, processes, and resources has provided a basis for intelligent economic development; also that geologists very soon realized that uncontrolled development of the land and other natural resources could not continue, that some limitations must be made on man's use of the Earth. The Geological Survey was established when public awareness of the need for balance between development and conservation of our resources was becoming evident. That balance is even more necessary now and in the future for the "general welfare" and "common defence" of the Nation. We can be grateful for the wisdom of our Founding Fathers in providing for publicly supported studies in earth science and engineering by well-trained and motivated scientists and engineers. Such studies, undertaken objectively in the search for facts, can continue to be of great value in the formulation and execution of wise policies to protect our environment and to maintain that balance between development and conservation of the natural resources.

Book↗