Modeled historical land use and land cover for the conterminous United States

Terry L. Sohl; Ryan R. Reker; Michelle A. Bouchard; Kristi L. Sayler; Jordan Dornbierer; Steve Wika; Robert Quenzer; Aaron M. Friesz

doi:10.1080/1747423x.2016.1147619

USGS · 70169334

Modeled historical land use and land cover for the conterminous United States

Terry L. Sohl·Ryan R. Reker·Michelle A. Bouchard·Kristi L. Sayler·Jordan Dornbierer·Steve Wika·Robert Quenzer·Aaron M. Friesz

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Abstract

The landscape of the conterminous United States has changed dramatically over the last 200 years, with agricultural land use, urban expansion, forestry, and other anthropogenic activities altering land cover across vast swaths of the country. While land use and land cover (LULC) models have been developed to model potential future LULC change, few efforts have focused on recreating historical landscapes. Researchers at the US Geological Survey have used a wide range of historical data sources and a spatially explicit modeling framework to model spatially explicit historical LULC change in the conterminous United States from 1992 back to 1938. Annual LULC maps were produced at 250-m resolution, with 14 LULC classes. Assessment of model results showed good agreement with trends and spatial patterns in historical data sources such as the Census of Agriculture and historical housing density data, although comparison with historical data is complicated by definitional and methodological differences. The completion of this dataset allows researchers to assess historical LULC impacts on a range of ecological processes.

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Journal of Land Use Science Article

Source-reported bounding extent: 24.546468° to 49.383079° latitude; -124.733174° to -66.950569° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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BibTeX RIS

Terry L. Sohl, Ryan R. Reker, Michelle A. Bouchard, Kristi L. Sayler, Jordan Dornbierer, Steve Wika, Robert Quenzer, Aaron M. Friesz. 2016-03-09. Modeled historical land use and land cover for the conterminous United States. https://doi.org/10.1080/1747423x.2016.1147619

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