Eastern Geographic Science Center
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Science |
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Eastern Geographic Science CenterEGSC scientists monitor and analyze changes on the land, study connections between people and the land, and provide relevant science information to inform decision making. Learn more about our research activities by selecting your topics of interest below.Status and Trends in Land Cover Change and Understanding the Causes and Consequences
Advanced Remote Sensing Research and DevelopmentWhy? Remote sensing is a necessity to geographic science, because it can monitor land change and provide information that will help to understand ecosystems. What? The Eastern Geographic Science Center is working with the U.S. Air Force and the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) in using the CAP’s Airborne Real-Time Cueing Hyperspectral Enhanced Reconnaissance (ARCHER) to monitor landscapes. More information... 
Causes and Consequences of Land Use and Land Cover Changes in the Chesapeake Bay WatershedWhy? Over the next 30-years, continued changes to the landscape due to human activities and climate pose great challenges to our ability to restore and maintain the ecosystem. What? The goals of this project are to (1) inform local and state decision-makers of the causes and consequences of land change to water quality, habitat, and hazards in the Chesapeake Bay, (2) enhance monitoring of past and present land change patters, and to (3) evaluate the impacts of past, present, and future land changes to water quality and ecosystems. More information.... 
EGSC Landscape TrendsWhy? Characterize the types, rates, and temporal variability of change for a 30-year period. Document regional driving forces and consequences of change. Prepare a national synthesis of land cover change. What? Document the types, geographic distributions, and rates of land cover change on a region-by-region basis from 1973 to 200 for the conterminous U.S., and determine some of the key drivers and consequences of the changes. More information.... 
EGSC Land Cover Change-National Land Cover Database (NLCD)Why? Land cover composition and change are widely used to assess landscape condition and to monitor status and trends of ecosystem change over time. The need for continuous, accurate, and up-to-date land cover data is critical for a wide variety of scientific research and socioeconomic analysis dependent on monitoring of landscape attributes over time. However, over large areas such efforts face a number of challenges, including timely acquisition of data, the high cost of creating national products, and the development of appropriate analytical techniques to successfully evaluate change. What? Geospatial support for the interagency Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium in developing and maintaining the National Land Cover Database, a land cover monitoring program which provides a foundation for understanding the patterns, processes and consequences of land change resulting from interactions between human activities and natural systems. More information.... 
Enhancements of the SLEUTH Urban-Growth Model for Regional UseWhy? Reduce the computer memory requirements of the SLEUTH model because the input images employed for regional modeling are substantially larger than those used in earlier USGS work. This will speed up processing during model calibration. What? Produce a modified version of the SLEUTH model for use in modeling regional growth within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. More information.... 
Loosely couple the Chesapeake Bay Land Cover Model with the Chesapeake Bay Program Watershed Model, SPARROW, and with Groundwater and Habitat ModelsWhy? The Chesapeake Bay is listed as an impaired water body under the Clean Water Act due to poor water-quality conditions because of low dissolved oxygen levels and poor water-clarity conditions related to nutrient and sediment pollution. What? The U.S. Geological Survey and the EPA Chesapeake Bay Program are developing the Chesapeake Online Adaptive Support Tool Kit (COAST), a Web-based framework of tools and information to help meet the needs of CBP partners by applying adaptive management principles to decision making. More information.... 
National Land Change Community Modeling SystemWhy? Inject credible alternative land-cover futures into the formation of public policy at all levels of government. What? Evolve the NLCCM into an integrated mosaic of regional and national models which will serve as a bridge between local-extant models and global models. More information.... 
Operation of the Research and Development Computer Cluster (Beowulf) Loosely couple the Chesapeake Bay Land Cover Model with the Chesapeake Bay Program Watershed Model, SPARROW, and with Groundwater and Habitat ModelsWhy? The Beowulf expands USGS capabilities in quantitative geography beyond those agreeable to solutions with conventional desktop geographic information systems. What? Address the need for general, professionally administered computational systems. More information.... Back to top Land Cover Dynamics and Environmental Processes
Best Management Practices in Developing LandscapesWhy? Land use change and development alters surface water flow patterns and affects landscape water quality, quantity, and timing, impacting area streams and downstream estuaries and ecosystems. What? Study specific structures and actions that are designed to mitigate the negative environmental effects of land use change. More information.... 
Detecting Evidence of Climate Change in the Forests of the Eastern United StatesWhy? Best management of habitat and and water resources requires efficient and cost effective ways to monitor within- and across-year changes in forest leaf growth, leaf fall and general condition. What? Establish meteorological, land surface, and land cover tracking capabilities that form a foundation for an ecosystem monitoring network; examine whether climate-change related signals are detectable in Shenandoah National Park canopy changes; and explore the implications of any detected signal(s) for watershed hydrology in the region. More information.... Partner-driven Decision Support Tools for Investigating Land Cover Change and Hazard-related Risk and Vulnerabilities
Ecosystem Portfolio Model - Ecosystem Analysis in South FloridaWhy? Intense pressures for development of the land outside of the Urban Development Boundary in Miami-Dade County, Florida, threaten to impact both the Everglades and Biscayne National Parks. What? In response, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with The National Park Service and the Wharton School of Economics, has developed a prototype for a Web-enabled geospatial information tool: the South Florida Ecosystem Portfolio Model, or EPM. More information.... 
Visualizing the Spread of West Nile Virus and Five Other Diseases across the United StatesWhy? Map out how the West Nile Virus has spread and is spreading across the United States. What? Configure maps, charts, and tables that track the spread, number of people affected, and the peak season of the virus. More information.... 
Web Application Framework DevelopmentWhy? 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 to utilize the data to frame policy options in a straightforward and understandable manner. What? The EGSC is addressing the need for more acces¬sible, manageable data tools by developing a suite of Web-based geospatial applications that will incorporate USGS and cooperating partner data into the decision making process for a variety of critical issues. More information.... |
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey |
DOI Inspector General
URL: http://egsc.usgs.gov/science.html
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Page Last Modified: Monday, 14-Jan-2013 17:36:47 EST
