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U.S. Department of the Interior
Accelerating glacier change in the early 21st century is impacting sea level, water resources, and ecosystems across North America and globally. Yet, direct field measurements of glacier change are laborious and logistically challenging to obtain, and less than 0.001% of glaciers on Earth have detailed long-term (more than 30 years) records.
Barrier islands are dynamic environments that can evolve with currents, waves, and tides. These systems help with storm surge reduction and wave attenuation but accelerated sea-level rise and more frequent and intense storms are expected to drastically change these islands in the future.
A 2021 high-resolution image collection is the most recent in a rich archive of aerial imagery used to track changes of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. The imagery was acquired from an airplane in Grand Canyon National Park along the Colorado River corridor and the Little Colorado River starting Memorial Day weekend and continuing through the first week of June 2021.
The Department of Interior’s Office of Wildland Fire (OWF), in partnership with the USGS, is conducting evaluations to determine best practices and methodology for data collection of post-fire eve
Microbial biofilm communities, which are comprised of bacteria, diatoms, protozoa, and fungi, inhabit the surface of intertidal mudflats. They play a major role in intertidal food webs and comprise a large proportion of shorebirds’ diets, so understanding biofilm distribution, quantity, and nutritional value is important for shorebird conservation and management.
The Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve (JELA) in southeastern Louisiana is being invaded by feral hogs (Sus scrofa) and needs a systemic survey to determine the distribution and number of hogs that exist within the park boundary.
The USGS is advancing the development of machine learning algorithms to detect and classify seabirds, waterfowl, and other marine wildlife from digital aerial imagery in collaboration with Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Vision Group at the International Computer Science Institute.
The USGS Patterns in the Landscape–Analyses of Cause and Effect (PLACE) project has developed a new suite of surface water maps derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) imagery. These maps leverage the MODIS daily acquisition rate and the Dynamic Surface Water Extent (DSWE) algorithm to create a record of surface water change with reduced cloud obstruction compared to Landsat-based maps.
The National Map Corps (TNMCorps), a crowdsourced mapping project, relies on volunteers to assist the USGS National Geospatial Program by collecting and editing man-made structures data for The National Map. Through their participation, volunteers make important contributions to the USGS’s ability to provide the Nation with accurate mapping information.
The USGS Cascades Volcano Observatory utilizes a multi-rotor unmanned aircraft system (UAS) outfitted with a miniature USGS-developed MultiGAS sensor to measure quiescent gas emissions above the 2004–2008 lava dome within the crater of Mount St. Helens. These new technologies allowed the team to characterize degassing at Mount St.
