Eastern Geographic Science Center Land Surface Change Project
Land Cover Trends Task | |
Other ActivitiesLand Cover Trends Workshop Sample Block Review Internet Meeting—Central Appalachians
ecoregion Land Cover Trends Workshop Sample Block Review Internet Meeting—Western Allegheny Plateau
and Interior Plateau ecoregions Land Cover Trends Workshop Sample Block Review Internet Meeting—Northeastern Coastal
Zone ecoregion Sample Block Review Internet Meeting—Southern Florida Coastal
Plain ecoregion Sample Block Review Internet Meeting—Southern Coastal Plain
ecoregion Land Cover Trends Workshop Sample Block Review Internet Meeting – Laurentian Plains
and Hills ecoregion Sample Block Review Internet Meeting – Northeastern Highlands
ecoregion Sample Block Review Internet Meeting – Northern Appalachian
Plateau and Uplands ecoregion Poster Presentation to the Eastern Geographic Science Center - "Land
Cover Change in the Southern Florida Coastal Plain Ecoregion: 1973-2000" Presentation to the Eastern Geographic Science Center - Land Cover
Trends Fieldwork Sample Block Review Internet Meeting – Erie Drift Plain ecoregion Completed WorkEGSC Land Cover Trends Team members have interpreted sample blocks
in the following ecoregions: EGSC Land Cover Trends Team members have written (in collaboration with EROS Data Center) a draft chapter for the Status and Trends Topical Report entitled: ‘Documenting the Driving Forces of Land Cover Change in the Northern Piedmont.’ This draft chapter is currently in review by the Land Cover Trends Project Chief. Prepared a poster titled "Land Cover Change in the Southern Florida Coastal Plain Ecoregion: 1973 – 2000". Steve Kambly presented this poster on March 9, 2006, at the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers in Chicago.
EGSC Land Cover Trends Team Members have written four ecoregion assessments for the Status and Trends of Eastern United States Land Cover report. This Scientific Investigation Report has been published as a Web document, and can be accessed at: http://eros.usgs.gov/LT/coverpage.html. The four summaries authored by EGSC personnel include: Southern Florida Coastal Plain, the Laurentian Plains and Hills, the Northeastern Highlands, and the Northern Appalachian Plateau and Uplands. Work in ProgressEGSC Land Cover Trends Team members are currently interpreting sample blocks in the Western Corn Belt Plains ecoregion and the Northwestern Glaciated Plains ecoregion. EGSC Land Cover Trends Team members have written a draft ecoregion report on the Southern Florida Coastal Plain. This report is planned to be finalized in FY 2006. EGSC Land Cover Trends Team Members are writing ecoregion reports on the Laurentian Plains and Hills, the Northeastern Highlands, and the Northern Appalachian Plateau and Uplands. Interpretation Techniques Using ERDASImage interpretation is essential to generating land cover data sets for the five time frames-1973, 1980, 1986, 1992, and 2000-of the Land Cover Trends project. Landsat scenes from each year are used to help to compile land cover data for a given 10km x 10km block. Additional data such as aerial photographs and digital raster graphics are also used. In a typical editing session, many of these sources are displayed together to aid interpretation, as shown below. Swipe Blend A perspective view of a sample block in Tennessee shows a large reservoir managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. Orange indicates agricultural land, roads and urban areas are shown in red, and the green areas represent forest cover. The land around the reservoir has remained largely undeveloped except for recreational uses such as boating and camping. Virtual 3D movie showing the landscape east of Canaseraga, New York
Future Land Cover Trends Work Plans for EGSCEGSC Land Cover Trends Team members are planning to write ecoregion reports on the Nebraska Sand Hills ecoregion and the Lake Agassiz Plain ecoregion. References and Suggested ReadingsLoveland, T. R., T. L. Sohl, S.V. Stehman, A. L. Gallant, K. L. Sayler, and D. E. Napton, 2002. A Strategy for Estimating the Rates of Recent United States Land Cover Changes, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 68(10): 1091-1100. Omernik, James M., 1987. Ecoregions of the Conterminous United States, Annals of the Association of American Geographers 77:118-125. Omernik, James M., 1999. Primary Distinguishing Characteristics of Level III Ecoregions of the Continental United States – Draft version. May 10. Stehman, S.V., T.L. Sohl, and T.R. Loveland, Statistical Sampling to Characterize Land-Cover Change in the U.S. Geological Survey Land-Cover Trends Project Draft version. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1999. Level III Ecoregions of the Continental United States, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency – National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Corvalis, Oregon. Vogelmann, J.E., S.M. Howard, L. Yang, C.R. Larson, B.K. Wylie, and N. Van Driel, 2001. Completion of the 1990s National Land Cover Data Set for the Conterminous United States from Landsat Thematic Mapper Data and Ancillary Data Sources, Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 67: 650-662. For additional information contact:Thomas R. Loveland, PhD. Thomas R. Moreland | |
U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://egsc.usgs.gov/erglct/other.html
Page Contact Information: Thomas R. Moreland, Jr.
Page Last Modified: Friday, 29-Sep-2006 12:16:33 EDT
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