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  Lake Agassiz Plain
  Flint Hills
  Central Oklahoma/Texas Plains
  Central Irregular Plains
  Western Allegheny Plateau
  Interior Plateau
  Northeastern Coastal Zone
  Southern Florida Coastal Plain
  Southern Coastal Plain
  Northern Appalachian Plateau and Uplands
  Northeastern Highlands
  Erie Drift Plain
  Mississippi Alluvial Plain
  Western Corn Belt Plains
  Northwestern Glaciated Plains
  Nebraska Sand Hills

NLCD activities carried out by EGSC contribute to a cooperative mapping project under the guidance of the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium. As part of a team of five collaborating USGS Science Centers, our past contributions include:

We are currently mapping NLCD 2006 land cover and imperviousness for parts of the eastern and northern U.S. This process uses a change detection method developed by the NOAA C-CAP program, a pivotal MRLC partner. Normalized imagery from circa 2001 and 2006 is compared spectrally. Areas identified as change are extracted from the image sets and classified using NLCD 2001 methods. The classified change areas are integrated into NLCD 2001 to produce NLCD 2006. NLCD 2006 will lay the foundation for the MRLC partners' goal of making NLCD a land cover monitoring program. Integrated with ongoing efforts to develop change products for NLCD 1992 and NLCD 2001, NLCD 2006 will contribute to a consistent, nationwide land cover monitoring program.

NLCD products have a variety of science applications, like monitoring and anticipating urban sprawl; tracking changes to farmland and wetlands; modeling water quantity and quality and predicting flood patterns; forecasting the distribution of pollutants within ecosystems, monitoring the spread of wildfires, and modeling various components of global climate change.

Products   Land cover databases and metadata for assigned NLCD zones.   Accuracy assessment analysis for the assigned NLCD sample sites.   Documentation of methods and best practices for accuracy assessment techniques. Links   MRLC Consortium and NLCD products   MRLC home page

Partners and Collaborators USGS – Land Cover Institute EPA NOAA USFS NASA BLM NPS USFWS NRCS OSM LANDFIRE

Customers MRLC Consortium Heinz Foundation State and Local agencies Academic research organizations Federal and National research groups

Contact Information:
Michelle Coffey
703-648-6568
mcoffey@usgs.gov

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Enhancements of the SLEUTH Urban-Growth Model for Regional Use

Following up on its 2006 work, EGSC will be working on several enhancements to SLEUTH this year. EGSC expects to:

One example of what the SLEUTH model can produce. Shown here, is a predictive animation of urbanization in the Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C., region. The yellow represents urbanization from 1750-1992 and the purple represents urbanization from 1993-2100. This animation was completed using the SLEUTH model in the mid-1990s. To see additional animations, please visit SLEUTH's Online Data Repository (Urban Change Histories and Predictive Urban Modeling at the bottom) Base maps were provided by the following institutions: Johns Hopkins University, Library of Congress, and Maryland Historic Trust.

Contact Information:
David Donato
703-648-5772
didonato@usgs.gov

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Flint River Vegetation Dynamics and Water Availability

A complete understanding of linkages among the land surface and the quality of in-stream habitat requires knowledge of the impact that spatially and temporally variable land surface properties have on the hydrologic, geochemical, and energy fluxes of the watershed area that drains to the stream. How important are intra- and inter-annual variations in vegetation condition ("vegetation dynamics") for in-stream water quantity and quality? Can these dynamics be affectively measured using remote sensing and landscape analyses? This task is focused on addressing these questions within the context of interdisciplinary water availability study for the Flint River in Georgia.

The primary research issues will be addressed by meeting the following objectives:

1. Develop a well-calibrated time series of multi-resolution satellite data for the Flint River Watershed.
2. Analyze satellite, climate, and streamflow data outside the hydrologic model context to assess the importance of vegetation dynamics for the distribution of Flint River hydrologic fluxes.
3. Explore linkages among vegetation dynamics, hydrology, in-stream habitat quality - that is, link contributing areas to in-stream conditions.

USGS and State of Georgia scientists discuss relationships among land cover dynamics (recorded in satellite data) and hydrology during a field survey of the Flint River.

Collaborators: 
       Mary C. Freeman, Ph.D., Research Ecologist  – Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, USGS, Athens Field Station, Athens, Georgia
       W. Brian Hughes, Hydrologist – Georgia Water Science Center, USGS, Atlanta, Georgia
       Gary R. Buell, Hydrologist – Georgia Water Science Center, USGS, Atlanta, Georgia
       Lauren E. Hay, Research Hydrologist –  National Research Program, USGS, Denver, Colorado
       Robb B. Jacobson, Ph.D., Research Hydrologist – Biological Resources, USGS, Coloumbia Environmental Research Center, Columbia, Missouri
       Kenneth R. Odom, Ph.D., Surface Water Specialist – Kentucky Water Science Center
       James T. Peterson, Assistant Unit Leader, Biological Resources
       J. Stephen Schindler, Research Geologist – Eastern Earth Surface Processes Team, Geology, Reston, Virginia
       Colin Shea, Research Assistant – Georgia Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit for University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia

Contact Information: 
John W. Jones, PhD
703-648-5543
jwjones@usgs.gov

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Loosely couple the Chesapeake Bay Land Cover Model with the Chesapeake Bay Program Watershed Model, SPARROW, and with Groundwater and Habitat Models

The environmental impact of land use and land use change associated with development in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed has become a pressing concern at both local and regional scales. Land use decisions are often made at the local or county level, and affect not only local ecosystems such as area streams but also regional level ecosystems including the Chesapeake Bay estuary. Numerous local and regional stakeholders including county and state governments and the Chesapeake Bay Program are interested in decision support tools to integrate scientific and socioeconomic factors and to better inform land use, environmental mitigation, and targeted remediation and conservation decisions.

This task is focused on the development of Web-based tools to assist local and State decision makers in optimizing strategies for reducing the load of harmful nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) to the Chesapeake Bay. In 2007 this effort established a strategic partnership with the Chesapeake Bay Program to explore merging the modeled output from USGS’s SPARROW model with the Chesapeake Bay Program’s web-based Vortex model. EGSC will utilize SPARROW output to allow users to more easily target areas with high nutrient loads, while utilizing the Vortex software to build scenarios for nutrient management and best management practice strategies. A prototype is expected in the year 2008.

Example process decision maker would progress through using merged output from the USGS SPARROW model with the Chesapeake Bay Program’s web-based Vortex model. The two models complement each other and allow users to more easily target areas where it would be most effective to invest time and money to reduce nutrient loads.

Contact Information:
Paul Hearn, PhD
703-648-6287
phearn@usgs.gov

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Land Use Portfolio Modeler—Ecosystems Analysis in South Florida

The Ecosystem Portfolio Modeler (EPM), a Web-based tool, will investigate and communicate ecological values of land between the Everglades and Biscayne Bay, in Miami-Dade County, Florida. This tool is being developed in conjunction with partners at the National Park Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the University of Florida, and the University of Pennsylvania. The tool will be used to develop, assess, and communicate strategies for restoring and protecting important ecological values of the remaining open land in southern Miami-Dade County. There is intense development pressure in this area that will adversely affect Everglades and Biscayne National Parks, and the land bridge in between them.

EPM users will   explore different land use, restoration, and development scenarios, and   explore tradeoffs between priorities. Calculation of the ecological value of a location will take into account biodiversity potential, threatened and endangered species, rare and unique habitats, water quality, landscape patterns and fragmentation, and restoration potential.  Economic values will be calculated using a land hedonic model.

Contact Information:
Paul Hearn, PhD
703-648-6287
phearn@usgs.gov

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National Land Change Community Modeling System

In the United States the impact of land-change modeling on public policy has - so far - fallen short of its potential. Among the many reasons, two stand out. First, fragmented research has led to a proliferation of models which do not interoperate, largely because of narrow thematic focuses and lack of technical standards. Second, research has disproportionately favored local extents at the expense of regional and national extents. The USGS Geographic Analysis and Monitoring (GAM) Program has, however, specifically recognized the need to improve the effectiveness of ecological, environmental, and land-change modeling at all scales. To this end, Geographic Analysis and Monitoring now funds research to address the neglected regional scale of land-change models and to foster a vibrant, collaborative, national community of modelers.

Our proposed framework for collaboration within this national community is the National Land-Change Community Model (NLCCM). By encouraging the development of software toolkits along with standards for integrating models within and across spatial and temporal scales, the NLCCM will enable modelers:

       to pick and choose from among the best features of various existing models;
       to build progressively refined, credible, and widely accepted models;
       to identify the drivers of ecological, environmental, and land-cover change; and
       thus to inject credible alternative land-cover futures into the formation of public policy at all levels of government.

The NLCCM will be both eclectic and inclusive. Mediated by an interactive Web site, the NLCCM will operate much like open-source software development projects. The community of participating researchers and modelers is expected to span all levels of government, the academic community, and non-governmental organizations. As it matures, the NLCCM is expected to evolve into an integrated mosaic of regional and national models which will serve as a bridge between local-extent models and global models.

To jump-start interest and participation in the NLCCM, the GAM Program is planning a model inter-comparison event (a model "bake-off") to be held in 2009. We will participate in the event by entering the Chesapeake Bay Land-Change Model (CBLCM), consisting of a local-scale growth-allocation model coupled with a regionalized cellular-automata urban-growth model (SLEUTH3-d).

Contact Information:
David Donato
703-648-5772
didonato@usgs.gov

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Operation of the Research and Development Computing Cluster (Beowulf)

The Eastern Geographic Science Center (EGSC) Research and Development Computing Cluster (RDCC) includes a Beowulf, a networked cluster of commodity computers (figure below) operated to support computationally intensive models, analyses, and research and development activities. The EGSC RDCC (Beowulf) is intended primarily as a national computational resource for USGS projects in computational and quantitative geography, including those interdisciplinary projects with significant geographic components. The Beowulf meets some of the need for general, professionally administered computational systems which has not otherwise been directly addressed since the de-commissioning several years ago of the Data General™ servers and other UNIX®-based systems once operated by the former National Mapping Division’s research branch.

Specifically, the Eastern Region now operates the RDCC to:

       Support the development of a Web interface for the SLEUTH (UGM-3) urban-growth model, and the development and application of parallelized calibration of this model for use in Chesapeake Bay restoration;
       Provide a UNIX®-like (Linux) computing environment for geographic researchers who do not otherwise have access to UNIX® or UNIX®-like systems;
       Provide a network-accessible, high-performance parallel-processing resource for USGS research; and
       Promote interdisciplinary and collaborative projects, including projects involving researchers from outside the USGS.

The Beowulf expands USGS capabilities in quantitative geography beyond those agreeable to solution with conventional desktop geographic information systems. The EGSC Beowulf consists of 18 interconnected computers (or nodes) including 17 running under Linux and one running under Windows. Eleven of the Beowulf’s computers have recently been upgraded with dual-core processors and 4 Gigabytes of random-access memory each. Additional information about the EGSC Beowulf is available at http://egscbeowulf.er.usgs.gov. Contact Information: David Donato 703-648-5772 didonato@usgs.gov Back to top

A view of some of the Beowulf interconnected nodes.

Sudden Salt Marsh Dieback

Areas of acute/sudden dieback of salt marsh vegetation have been observed recently in the northeast including Connecticut (2003), Cape Cod (2004), and Maine (2004/05). Neither the geographic range nor the extent of sudden salt marsh dieback has been determined. Sudden salt marsh dieback has consequently been identified as an issue of very high priority for both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Park Service (NPS) in this region. This research describes an integrated, comprehensive project among U.S. Department of the Interior partners (USGS, FWS, and NPS) to address this significant threat to the Region’s coast. The goals of this project are to develop satellite-based remote sensing techniques that can be used to accurately determine the regional severity and extent of sudden salt marsh dieback on FWS salt marshes in New England and provide insights regarding causes for salt marsh dieback.

Contact Information:  John W. Jones, PhD 703-648-5543 jwjones@usgs.gov Back to top

View a larger version of this graphic.

Detecting Evidence of Climate Change in the Forests of the Eastern United States

Can evidence of climate change impacts on vegetation phenology be found in moderate-resolution satellite imagery? If changes are evident, what is their impact on fluxes of water and nutrients from the headwater streams of the Potomac River? Evolving streamflow and microclimatic conditions that are caused by changing watershed land use make the analysis of relationships among vegetation fluctuations, climate, and hydrology difficult. Because they are protected from direct land use changes, the Potomac Watershed headwaters found in the Shenandoah National Park (SNP) present excellent real-world laboratories for the investigation of relationships among vegetation fluctuations, climate, non-anthropogenic disturbances, and hydrology.

The scientific goals of this project are to examine whether climate-change related signals in SNP canopy phenology are detectable in the data we have assembled and to explore the implications of any detected signal(s) for watershed hydrology in the region. Meteorological stations have been set up in various locations throughout the SNP to record trends in climatic factors and a public web site has been developed that enables viewing of the information in near-real time. The U.S. Geological Survey established the USA National Phenology Network in collaboration with the National Science Foundation, to coordinate the collection and analysis of phenologic data on plants and animals throughout the Nation. Citizens are being encouraged to get involved in understanding how climate change is impacting our nation’s forests by recording when plants first leaf out and bloom each year. This site, www.usanpn.org, is temporarily down (Septebmer 23, 2009), but please check back at a later date. Visit the project's web site featuring their live webcam, near real-time park conditions, and a cool webcam slideshow showing the autumn leaf color change. The animation to the left shows a view (August 2008) of Stoney Man Mountain, looking northwest in the Shenandoah National Park. Contact Information:  John W. Jones, PhD 703-648-5543 jwjones@usgs.gov Back to top

This black bear watched attentively as team members downloaded weather data from one of the project’s weather stations and repaired damage to the weather station caused by…. Black bears! Along with information on the Park’s climate and physical environment, this project is providing valuable experience regarding the long-term, real-world deployment of monitoring equipment for research and resource management.

South Florida Landscape Dynamics

Resource managers in the Everglades region must be able to monitor land surface change, estimate water level conditions in real time, and integrate physical and biological data/information from a broad user community. The primary goal of this study is to provide restoration-critical information regarding past and current characteristics of the Greater Everglades land surface (i.e., ‘landscape dynamics’) using remote sensing and geospatial analysis for improved landscape-scale modeling and restoration monitoring.

Related Research: High Accuracy Elevation Data Collection Project Contact Information:  John W. Jones, PhD 703-648-5543 jwjones@usgs.gov Back to top

The elevation map created using complex geostatistical modeling of highly accurate elevation data. The digital elevation model represented on this map is being used for water resource management and biological research planning and conduct through the Everglades Depth Estimation Network applications system.

Visualizing the Spread of West Nile Virus and Five Other Diseases Across the United States

To see how the West Nile Virus (WNV) has and is spreading across the U.S. in five categories (bird, human, mosquito, sentinel, and veterinary), Visit the West Nile Virus - Human - Maps page. The site is updated weekly during the WNV season that typically runs from April to October.

Using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Geological Survey shows the data in easy to understand ways:

  Maps showing disease activity - Color-coded maps labeled with the number of cases per county are shown for each state. You can easily navigate between categories (e.g. human to bird) and to adjacent states.
  Charts showing disease spread over time - Below each state map, special charts show the weekly spread of WNV. Historically, the peak season is late summer and early autumn.
  Tables showing county-level data - The total number of cases per county are shown in an easy-to-read table below each chart.
  Total counts for regions - The total number of cases for each state and the nation are printed at the bottom of the webpage.

Five additional diseases, St. Louis encephalitis, eastern equine encephalitis, western equine encephalitis, La Crosse encephalitis, and Powassan virus, are mapped and accessible via a user-friendly navigation system just below the USGS banner. Contact Information: Susan Price 703-648-6692 sprice@usgs.gov Back to top

Web Application Framework Development

Increasingly, decision makers at all levels are challenged not by the lack of information, but by the absence of effective tools to synthesize the large volume of data available and utilize them to frame policy options in a straightforward and understandable manner. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technologies have been widely applied to this end; however, systems with the necessary analytical power are still largely confined to workstations and are useable only by trained operators. Numerous internet-based systems have been developed, but few offer features beyond simple display of data on map and imagery backgrounds.

Within the USGS, as well as other government agencies and academia, development teams often duplicate each others efforts attempting to develop complex dynamic Web-based GIS applications. Many never see the light of day because of the level-of-effort to deploy such an application. A common reusable application framework would benefit many projects within the USGS and elsewhere and help many of these projects reach completion.

This task is focused on the development of a reusable Web application framework with a common architecture. This framework will be able to host a variety of GIS web applications which share a common architecture. Spatial analysis will also be developed to allow users to analyze the data. A reusable map viewer (figure 1) has been developed that can be utilized by a wide variety of GIS web applications. The map viewer will serve as a spatial and data selection tool for the Web applications as well as display the resulting output from the Web applications. A common spatial analysis library (similar to Arctool box) will be established as the framework for building robust GIS analysis applications (i.e. flood inundation, viewshed, etc.). Contact Information: Paul Hearn, PhD 703-648-6287 phearn@usgs.gov Back to top

Figure 1. An illustration of the reusable Web map viewer.

Web-based Land Cover Data Retrieval and Classification Tools

In 2006, the Eastern Geographic Science Center began a joint project with eSpatial, a software and consulting company specializing in GIS and Location Services. This effort, will utilize eSpatial’s iSmart5 platform to develop a custom application to provide enhanced public access to USGS’s National Land Cover Database (NLCD). The iSmart5 application will allow users to quickly locate, display, and download NLCD data, including the recently developed NLCD Change Product, which displays changes in land cover between 1992 and 2001.

Users will be able to clip, display, and download NLCD data using a variety of polygons, including city, county and watershed boundaries, as well as polygons defined by the user. Additional features will include the ability to display individual land cover classes on top of user selected maps or imagery, and the ability to generate and print reports detailing the land cover composition within selected areas. The new application is expected to be available to the public in late summer 2007.

Contact Information:
Paul Hearn, PhD
703-648-6287
phearn@usgs.gov

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Web Based Tools and Applications: Web Enabling a GIS-Based Decision Support System for Memphis, and Shelby County, Tennessee

In the winter of 1811-12, the central Mississippi Valley was struck by three of the most powerful earthquakes in U.S. history. Even today, this region has more earthquakes than any other part of the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. Government agencies, universities, and private organizations are working to increase awareness of the earthquake threat and to reduce loss of life and property in future shocks.

New Madrid Seismic Hazard Zone - View larger graphic

The city of Memphis, Tennessee and surrounding Shelby County has a dense urban population near faults capable of producing major earthquakes, a 25-40% probability of a magnitude 6.0 or greater earthquake in the next 50 years, and relatively low regional attenuation (in other words, seismic waves do damage over a greater area in this region than for the same magnitude earthquake in the western U.S.). Because of these attributes, Memphis was chosen by the U.S. Geological Survey as a test site to evaluate a new tool to help local government agencies evaluate the economic consequences of alternative mitigation strategies. Integrating GIS with Economic Assessment While hazard mitigation decisions are typically made by individual property owners, their choices are often affected by external policies implemented on regional scales, such as tax incentives, building codes, and other regulations. These policies not only affect the vulnerability of particular locations, but also have economic consequences (e.g. effects on property values, insurance costs, tax rates, etc). For this reason, determining the effectiveness of any one policy requires an approach that integrates GIS-based regional risk assessments with analyses of the economic consequences of different mitigation policies.

The USGS Land Use Portfolio Model (LUPM) is a GIS-based modeling, mapping, and risk communication tool that can assist public agencies and communities in understanding and reducing their natural-hazards vulnerability. The LUPM has been developed into an interactive decision support system (DSS) that stakeholders can use to prioritize locations in which to invest a hazard mitigation budget and evaluate alternative mitigation policies. The DSS is unique in that it allows users to consider various levels of risk tolerance and hazard acceptability and compare the cost effectiveness of different policy alternatives. The program allows users to construct various scenarios by entering different event probabilities, mitigation strategies and costs, and planning horizons. The model computes estimated mitigation costs, asset wealth lost, asset wealth retained, and associated standard deviations of each estimate.

The initial phase of the project (2004-2005) involved an analysis of hypothetical mitigation strategies that compare the benefits and costs of structural mitigation for new commercial buildings. Various scenarios were conducted for ~12,000 vacant commercial parcels, using a hypothetical mix of structures with a total estimated value of $9.6 billion. Scenarios were run with and without geologic risk information, with estimated mitigation costs of 10% and 30% of new building values, and with planning horizons of zero, 20 and 50 years. Preliminary results demonstrate a) that geologic risk information can substantially reduce costs by more effective targeting of mitigation efforts, and b) that the choice of planning horizon markedly affects present-value estimates of mitigation benefits and costs.

During the year of 2006, a web-based simplified version of the LUPM was developed to provide local managers access to the tool without having to work with a GIS analyst. Activities in 2007 are focused on enhancing the web-based version and conducting an analysis of the relative costs and benefits of replacing the existing building code in Memphis and Shelby County with the International Building Code.

Contact Information:
Paul Hearn, PhD
703-648-6287
phearn@usgs.gov

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