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Results for “Journal of Remote Sensing”

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USGS2020

Temporal evolution of measured and simulated infiltration following wildfire in the Colorado Front Range, USA: Shifting thresholds of runoff generation and hydrologic hazards

Destructive flash floods and debris flows are a common menace following wildfire. The restoration of protection provided by forests from post-fire floods and debris flows depends on the recovery of infiltration and attendant reduction of infiltration-excess surface runoff generation. This work examines seven years of post-fire infiltration measurements and temporal relations fit to soil-hydraulic properties from the Colorado Front Range, USA to assess infiltration recovery with increasing time since fire. Point-scale Green-Ampt simulations of infiltration across a full spectrum of rainfall events are used to evaluate infiltration changes and shifts in surface runoff generation thresholds with post-fire temporal recovery. Measured and simulated infiltration generally recovered monotonically with increasing time since fire. This indicates a reduced vulnerability to infiltration-excess runoff generation as time elapses, with the greatest risk in the first two years after the fire. The threshold for infiltration-excess runoff advances with increasing time to rainfall events with higher intensity and greater return intervals; by the third year after wildfire only extreme events (30-100 year recurrence) generate surface runoff and by the fifth and seventh year even extreme rainfall events typically fail to generate surface runoff. Remotely-sensed vegetation indices suggest linked, or at least contemporaneous, recovery of understory vegetation and field-saturated hydraulic conductivity at this field site, suggesting coincident recovery of multiple hillslope properties impacting surface runoff generation. This work indicates that the closing of the window of disturbance after wildfire, relative to infiltration-excess runoff generation and corresponding flash flood and debris flow hazards, relies on coupled assessments of hillslope property recovery and stochasticity of high-intensity rainfall. Post-fire hazard assessments using static hillslope properties could fail to predict flash floods and debris flows associated with infrequent extreme rainfall events that strike during the post-fire recovery period when hillslope properties are partially recovered.

Colorado↗

USGS2003

Ocean observer study: A proposed national asset to augment the future U.S. operational satellite system

The next generation of U.S. polar orbiting environmental satellites, are now under development. These satellites, jointly developed by the Department of Defense (DoD), the Department of Commerce (DOC), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), will be known as the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS). It is expected that the first of these satellites will be launched in 2010. NPOESS has been designed to meet the operational needs of the U.S. civilian meteorological, environmental, climatic, and space environmental remote sensing programs, and the Global Military Space and Geophysical Environmental remote sensing programs. This system, however, did not meet all the needs of the user community interested in operational oceanography (particularly in coastal regions). Beginning in the fall of 2000, the Integrated Program Office (IPO), a joint DoD, DOC, and NASA office responsible for the NPOESS development, initiated the Ocean Observer Study (OOS). The purpose of this study was to assess and recommend how best to measure the missing or inadequately sampled ocean parameters. This paper summarizes the ocean measurement requirements documented in the OOS, describes the national need to measure these parameters, and describes the satellite instrumentation required to make those measurements.

Marine Technology Society Journal↗

USGS2013

The stability of sulfate and hydrated sulfate minerals near ambient conditions and their significance in environmental and planetary sciences

Sulfate and hydrated sulfate minerals are abundant and ubiquitous on the surface of the Earth and also on other planets and their satellites. The humidity-buffer technique has been applied to study the stability of some of these minerals at 0.1 MPa in terms of temperature-relative humidity space on the basis of hydration-dehydration reversal experiments. Updated phase relations in the binary system MgSO 4 -H 2 O are presented, as an example, to show how reliable thermodynamic data for these minerals could be obtained based on these experimental results and thermodynamic principles. This approach has been applied to sulfate and hydrated sulfate minerals of other metals, including Fe (both ferrous and ferric), Zn, Ni, Co, Cd, and Cu. Metal-sulfate salts play important roles in the cycling of metals and sulfate in terrestrial systems, and the number of phases extends well beyond the simple sulfate salts that have thus far been investigated experimentally. The oxidation of sulfide minerals, particularly pyrite, is a common process that initiates the formation of efflorescent metal-sulfate minerals. Also, the overall abundance of iron-bearing sulfate salts in nature reflects the fact that the weathering of pyrite or pyrrhotite is the ultimate source for many of these phases. Many aspects of their environmental significance are reviewed, particularly in acute effects to aquatic ecosystems related to the dissolution of sulfate salts during rain storms or snow-melt events. Hydrous Mg, Ca, and Fe sulfates were identified on Mars, with wide distribution and very large quantities at many locations, on the basis of spectroscopic observations from orbital remote sensing and surface explorations by rovers. However, many of these findings do not reveal the detailed information on the degree of hydration that is essential for rigorous interpretation of the hydrologic history of Mars. Laboratory experiments on stability fields, reactions pathways, and reaction rates of hydrous sulfates likely to be found on Mars enhance our understanding of the degrees of hydration of various sulfates that should currently exist on Mars at various seasons and locations and during various atmospheric pressure and obliquity periods. Two sets of systematic experiments were described; one on hydrous Mg sulfates and the other on hydrous Fe 3+ sulfates. Also, their implications to Mars sulfates mineralogy were discussed.

Journal of Asian Earth Sciences↗

USGS2022

The new lava dome growth of Nevado del Ruiz (2015–2021)

The morphology of the summit of Nevado del Ruiz volcano (Colombia) and its active Arenas crater is the product of complex interactions between effusive and explosive eruptions, and the dynamics of the summit glacier. Here, we document the morphologic evolution of the summit of Nevado del Ruiz, and the growth of its dome, from a variety of methods: monitoring data (2010 to 2021), photogrammetry, remote sensing, and quantitative modeling. The present morphology of Arenas crater, with small terraces limited by the walls of the crater, various vents of ash emission, and zones of fumarolic activity, has been shaped by the activity following the eruptions of 1845, 1985, 1989, 2012 and the volcanic unrest of the last 10 years. The latest emplacement of a lava dome at the bottom of the main crater began in 2015. The dome grew, with fluctuations in its extrusion rate between ~0.19 m 3 /s (November 2015) and 0.02 m 3 /s (February 2018), until December 2019, reaching a diameter of ~130 m, a maximum height of ~60 m, and a volume of 1.7 ± 0.2 × 10 6 m 3 .

Nevado del Ruiz volcano↗

USGS2008

Integrating modelling and remote sensing to identify ecosystem performance anomalies in the boreal forest, Yukon River Basin, Alaska

High-latitude ecosystems are exposed to more pronounced warming effects than other parts of the globe. We develop a technique to monitor ecological changes in a way that distinguishes climate influences from disturbances. In this study, we account for climatic influences on Alaskan boreal forest performance with a data-driven model. We defined ecosystem performance anomalies (EPA) using the residuals of the model and made annual maps of EPA. Most areas (88%) did not have anomalous ecosystem performance for at least 6 of 8 years between 1996 and 2004. Areas with underperforming EPA (10%) often indicate areas associated with recent fires and areas of possible insect infestation or drying soil related to permafrost degradation. Overperforming areas (2%) occurred in older fire recovery areas where increased deciduous vegetation components are expected. The EPA measure was validated with composite burn index data and Landsat vegetation indices near and within burned areas.

International Journal of Digital Earth↗

USGS2013

Development and application of an agricultural intensity index to invertebrate and algal metrics from streams at two scales

Research was conducted at 28-30 sites within eight study areas across the United States along a gradient of nutrient enrichment/agricultural land use between 2003 and 2007. Objectives were to test the application of an agricultural intensity index (AG-Index) and compare among various invertebrate and algal metrics to determine indicators of nutrient enrichment nationally and within three regions. The agricultural index was based on total nitrogen and phosphorus input to the watershed, percent watershed agriculture, and percent riparian agriculture. Among data sources, agriculture within riparian zone showed significant differences among values generated from remote sensing or from higher resolution orthophotography; median values dropped significantly when estimated by orthophotography. Percent agriculture in the watershed consistently had lower correlations to invertebrate and algal metrics than the developed AG-Index across all regions. Percent agriculture showed fewer pairwise comparisons that were significant than the same comparisons using the AG-Index. Highest correlations to the AG-Index regionally were −0.75 for Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera richness (EPTR) and −0.70 for algae Observed/Expected (O/E), nationally the highest was −0.43 for EPTR vs. total nitrogen and −0.62 for algae O/E vs. AG-Index. Results suggest that analysis of metrics at national scale can often detect large differences in disturbance, but more detail and specificity is obtained by analyzing data at regional scales.

Journal of the American Water Resources Associatio↗

USGS2022

Effects of structure and volcanic stratigraphy on groundwater and surface water flow: Hat Creek basin, California, USA

Hydrogeologic systems in the southern Cascade Range in California (USA) develop in volcanic rocks where morphology, stratigraphy, extensional structures, and attendant basin geometry play a central role in groundwater flow paths, groundwater/surface-water interactions, and spring discharge locations. High-volume springs (greater than 3 m 3 /s) flow from basin-filling (<800 ka) volcanic rocks in the Hat Creek and Fall River tributaries and contribute approximately half of the average annual flow of the Pit River, the largest tributary to Shasta Lake. A hydrogeologic conceptual framework is constructed for the Hat Creek basin combining new geologic mapping, water-well lithologic logs, a database of active faults, LiDAR mapping of faults and volcanic landforms, streamflow measurements and airborne thermal infrared remote sensing of stream temperature. These data are used to integrate the geologic structure and the volcanic and volcaniclastic stratigraphy to create a three-dimensional interpretation of the hydrogeology in the basin. Two large streamflow gains from focused groundwater discharge near Big Spring and north of Sugarloaf Peak result from geologic barriers that restrict lateral groundwater flow and force water into Hat Creek. The inferred groundwater-flow barriers divide the aquifer system into at least three leaky compartments. The two downstream compartments lose streamflow in the upstream reaches (immediately downstream of the groundwater-flow barriers) and gain in downstream reaches with the greatest inflows immediately upstream of the barriers.

California↗

USGS2017

Mapping tide-water glacier dynamics in east Greenland using landsat data

Landsat multispectral scanner and thematic mapper images were co-registered For the Kangerdlugssuaq Fjord region in East Greenland and were used to map glacier drainage-basin areas, changes in the positions of tide-water glacier termini and to estimate surface velocities of the larger tide-water glaciers. Statistics were compiled to document distance and area changes to glacier termini. The methodologies developed in this study are broadly applicable to the investigation of tide-water glaciers in other areas. The number of images available for consecutive years and the accuracy with which images are co-registered are key factors that influence the degree to which regional glacier dynamics can be characterized using remotely sensed data. Three domains of glacier state were interpreted: net increase in terminus area in the southern part of the study area, net loss of terminus area for glaciers in upper Kangerdlugssuaq Fjord and a slight loss of glacier terminus area northward from Ryberg Fjord. Local increases in the concentrations of drifting icebergs in the fjords coincide with the observed extension of glacier termini positions Ice-surface velocity estimates were derived for several glaciers using automated image cross-correlation techniques The velocity determined for Kangerdlugssuaq Gletscher is approximately 5.0 km a −1 and that for Kong Christian IV Gletscher is 0.9 km a −1 . The continuous presence of icebergs and brash ice in front of these glaciers indicates sustained rates of ice-front calving.

Journal of Glaciology↗

USGS2011

Field Reconnaissance Geologic Mapping of the Columbia Hills, Mars: Results from MER Spirit and MRO HiRISE Observations

Chemical, mineralogic, and lithologic ground truth was acquired for the first time on Mars in terrain units mapped using orbital Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (MRO HiRISE) image data. Examination of several dozen outcrops shows that Mars is geologically complex at meter length scales, the record of its geologic history is well exposed, stratigraphic units may be identified and correlated across significant areas on the ground, and outcrops and geologic relationships between materials may be analyzed with techniques commonly employed in terrestrial field geology. Despite their burial during the course of Martian geologic time by widespread epiclastic materials, mobile fines, and fall deposits, the selective exhumation of deep and well-preserved geologic units has exposed undisturbed outcrops, stratigraphic sections, and structural information much as they are preserved and exposed on Earth. A rich geologic record awaits skilled future field investigators on Mars. The correlation of ground observations and orbital images enables construction of a corresponding geologic reconnaissance map. Most of the outcrops visited are interpreted to be pyroclastic, impactite, and epiclastic deposits overlying an unexposed substrate, probably related to a modified Gusev crater central peak. Fluids have altered chemistry and mineralogy of these protoliths in degrees that vary substantially within the same map unit. Examination of the rocks exposed above and below the major unconformity between the plains lavas and the Columbia Hills directly confirms the general conclusion from remote sensing in previous studies over past years that the early history of Mars was a time of more intense deposition and modification of the surface. Although the availability of fluids and the chemical and mineral activity declined from this early period, significant later volcanism and fluid convection enabled additional, if localized, chemical activity.

Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets↗

USGS2012

A vectorial capacity product to monitor changing malaria transmission potential in epidemic regions of Africa

Rainfall and temperature are two of the major factors triggering malaria epidemics in warm semi-arid (desert-fringe) and high altitude (highland-fringe) epidemic risk areas. The ability of the mosquitoes to transmit Plasmodium spp. is dependent upon a series of biological features generally referred to as vectorial capacity. In this study, the vectorial capacity model (VCAP) was expanded to include the influence of rainfall and temperature variables on malaria transmission potential. Data from two remote sensing products were used to monitor rainfall and temperature and were integrated into the VCAP model. The expanded model was tested in Eritrea and Madagascar to check the viability of the approach. The analysis of VCAP in relation to rainfall, temperature and malaria incidence data in these regions shows that the expanded VCAP correctly tracks the risk of malaria both in regions where rainfall is the limiting factor and in regions where temperature is the limiting factor. The VCAP maps are currently offered as an experimental resource for testing within Malaria Early Warning applications in epidemic prone regions of sub-Saharan Africa. User feedback is currently being collected in preparation for further evaluation and refinement of the VCAP model.

Journal of Tropical Medicine↗

USGS2018

Delineation of tile-drain networks using thermal and multispectral imagery—Implications for water quantity and quality differences from paired edge-of-field sites

As part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, paired edge-of-field sites were established in high priority subwatersheds to assess the effectiveness of agricultural management practices. One pairing was in Black Creek, a tributary to the Maumee River and Lake Erie. These fields were paired because of similarity in soils, topography, and agricultural management. Following two years of baseline data collection from these fields, consistent differences in water quantity and quality were observed for tile networks draining the fields, despite these fields being adjacent and managed together. Consequently, it was hypothesized that differences in subsurface water movement, specifically tile-drain density and connectivity, were the source of the observed differences. Our objective was to map the tile-drain network using remote sensing methodology in order to improve the understanding of nutrient and water transport as well as management on these fields. A combination of multispectral and thermal imagery, collected in spring of 2017, was incorporated to delineate the tile-drain network within each field. This imagery led to locating a cracked tile, which provided a direct path for overland flow to enter the tile-drain system and suggested that a tile-drain segment under the road connected the two fields. A ground-penetrating radar survey verified multiple tile locations, including the tile segment under the road. The distribution of these tiles helps explain the difference in water quantity and quality in the two fields.

Journal of Soil and Water Conservation↗

USGS2021

Evaluation of remote mapping techniques for earthquake-triggered landslide inventories in an urban subarctic environment: A case study of the 2018 Anchorage, Alaska Earthquake

Earthquake-induced landslide inventories can be generated using field observations but doing so can be challenging if the affected landscape is large or inaccessible after an earthquake. Remote sensing data can be used to help overcome these limitations. The effectiveness of remotely sensed data to produce landslide inventories, however, is dependent on a variety of factors, such as the extent of coverage, timing, and data quality, as well as environmental factors such as atmospheric interference (e.g., clouds, water vapor) or snow and vegetation cover. With these challenges in mind, we use a combination of field observations and remote sensing data from multispectral, light detection and ranging (lidar), and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors to produce a ground failure inventory for the urban areas affected by the 2018 magnitude (M w ) 7.1 Anchorage, Alaska earthquake. The earthquake occurred during late November at high latitude (∼61°N), and the lack of sunlight, persistent cloud cover, and snow cover that occurred after the earthquake made remote mapping challenging for this event. Despite these challenges, 43 landslides were manually mapped and classified using a combination of the datasets mentioned previously. Using this manually compiled inventory, we investigate the individual performance and reliability of three remote sensing techniques in this environment not typically hospitable to remotely sensed mapping. We found that differencing pre- and post-event normalized difference vegetation index maps and lidar worked best for identifying soil slumps and rapid soil flows, but not as well for small soil slides, soil block slides and rock falls. The SAR-based methods did not work well for identifying any landslide types because of high noise levels likely related to snow. Some landslides, especially those that resulted in minor surface displacement, were identifiable only from the field observations. This work highlights the importance of the rapid collection of field observations and provides guidance for future mappers on which techniques, or combination of techniques, will be most effective at remotely mapping landslides in a subarctic and urban environment.

Alaska↗

USGS2022

Development of the LCMAP annual land cover product across Hawai'i

Following the completion of land cover and change (LCC) products for the conterminous United States (CONUS), the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS’s) Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection initiative has broadened the capability of characterizing continuous historical land change across the full Landsat records for Hawaiʻi at 30-meter resolution. One of the challenges of implementing the LCMAP framework to process annual land cover maps in Hawaiʻi is to collect sufficient high-quality training data. Although multiple datasets depicting land cover information are available in Hawaiʻi, they covered limited time frames and were produced from various remote sensing sources with different, classification categories, spatial resolution, and mapping accuracies. No solo product is suitable to provide LCMAP training data labels on its own. In this paper, we focused on enhancing the LCMAP training datasets to generate land cover products from 2000 to 2019 in Hawaiʻi. A total of 200 independent reference data plots were generated and manually interpreted for validating the mapping results produced by the training datasets. The results revealed that using the appropriate filter of multiple products as training data pools improved the classification model performance. The effect of training datasets (e.g., spatial coverage, quality) on accuracies for different land cover types were summarized. The LCMAP land surface change products for Hawaiʻi are available at https://doi.org/10.5066/P91E8M23 .

Hawaii↗

USGS2016

Dynamic reusable workflows for ocean science

Digital catalogs of ocean data have been available for decades, but advances in standardized services and software for catalog search and data access make it now possible to create catalog-driven workflows that automate — end-to-end — data search, analysis and visualization of data from multiple distributed sources. Further, these workflows may be shared, reused and adapted with ease. Here we describe a workflow developed within the US Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) which automates the skill-assessment of water temperature forecasts from multiple ocean forecast models, allowing improved forecast products to be delivered for an open water swim event. A series of Jupyter Notebooks are used to capture and document the end-to-end workflow using a collection of Python tools that facilitate working with standardized catalog and data services. The workflow first searches a catalog of metadata using the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Catalog Service for the Web (CSW), then accesses data service endpoints found in the metadata records using the OGC Sensor Observation Service (SOS) for in situ sensor data and OPeNDAP services for remotely-sensed and model data. Skill metrics are computed and time series comparisons of forecast model and observed data are displayed interactively, leveraging the capabilities of modern web browsers. The resulting workflow not only solves a challenging specific problem, but highlights the benefits of dynamic, reusable workflows in general. These workflows adapt as new data enters the data system, facilitate reproducible science, provide templates from which new scientific workflows can be developed, and encourage data providers to use standardized services. As applied to the ocean swim event, the workflow exposed problems with two of the ocean forecast products which led to improved regional forecasts once errors were corrected. While the example is specific, the approach is general, and we hope to see increased use of dynamic notebooks across the geoscience domains.

Journal of Marine Science and Engineering↗

USGS2013

Estimating suitable environments for invasive plant species across large landscapes: a remote sensing strategy using Landsat 7 ETM+

The key to reducing ecological and economic damage caused by invasive plant species is to locate and eradicate new invasions before they threaten native biodiversity and ecological processes. We used Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus imagery to estimate suitable environments for four invasive plants in Big Bend National Park, southwest Texas, using a presence-only modeling approach. Giant reed ( Arundo donax ), Lehmann lovegrass ( Eragrostis lehmanniana ), horehound ( Marrubium vulgare ) and buffelgrass ( Pennisteum ciliare ) were selected for remote sensing spatial analyses. Multiple dates/seasons of imagery were used to account for habitat conditions within the study area and to capture phenological differences among targeted species and the surrounding landscape. Individual species models had high (0.91 to 0.99) discriminative ability to differentiate invasive plant suitable environments from random background locations. Average test area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) ranged from 0.91 to 0.99, indicating that plant predictive models exhibited high discriminative ability to differentiate suitable environments for invasive plant species from random locations. Omission rates ranged from <1.0 to 18%. We demonstrated that useful models estimating suitable environments for invasive plants may be created with <50 occurrence locations and that reliable modeling using presence-only datasets can be powerful tools for land managers.

Texas↗

USGS2024

Remote sensing evapotranspiration in ensemble-based framework to enhance cascade routing and re-infiltration concept in integrated hydrological model applied to support decision making

Integrated hydrological models (IHMs) help characterize the complexity of surface–groundwater interactions. The cascade routing and re-infiltration (CRR) concept, recently applied to a MODFLOW 6 IHM, improved conceptualization and simulation of overland flow processes. The CRR controls the transfer of rejected infiltration and groundwater exfiltration from upslope areas to adjacent downslope areas where that water can be evaporated, re-infiltrated back to subsurface, or discharged to streams as direct runoff. The partitioning between these three components is controlled by uncertain parameters that must be estimated. Thus, by quantifying and reducing those uncertainties, next to uncertainties of the other model parameters (e.g. hydraulic and storage parameters), the reliability of the CRR is improved and the IHM is better suited for decision support modelling, the two key objectives of this work. To this end, the remotely sensed MODIS-ET product was incorporated into the calibration process for complementing traditional hydraulic head and streamflow observations. A total of approximately 150,000 observations guided the calibration of a 13-year MODFLOW 6 IHM simulation of the Sardon catchment (Spain) with daily stress periods. The model input uncertainty was represented by grid-cell-scale parameterization, yielding approximately 500,000 unknown input parameters to be conditioned. The calibration was carried out through an iterative ensemble smoother. Incorporating the MODIS-ET data improved the CRR implementation, and reduced uncertainties associated with other model parameters. Additionally, it significantly reduced the uncertainty associated with net recharge, a critical flux for water management that cannot be directly measured and rather is commonly estimated by IHM simulations.

Sardon catchment↗

USGS2021

Developing a strategy for the national coordinated soil moisture monitoring network

Soil moisture is a critical land surface variable, affecting a wide variety of climatological, agricultural, and hydrological processes. Determining the current soil moisture status is possible via a variety of methods, including in situ monitoring, remote sensing, and numerical modeling. Although all of these approaches are rapidly evolving, there is no cohesive strategy or framework to integrate these diverse information sources to develop and disseminate coordinated national soil moisture products that will improve our ability to understand climate variability. The National Coordinated Soil Moisture Monitoring Network initiative has developed a national strategy for network coordination with NOAA's National Integrated Drought Information System. The strategy is currently in review within NOAA, and work is underway to implement the initial milestones of the strategy. This update reviews the goals and steps being taken to establish this national-scale coordination for soil moisture monitoring in the United States.

Vadose Zone Journal↗

USGS2018

Estimating post-fire debris-flow hazards prior to wildfire using a statistical analysis of historical distributions of fire severity from remote sensing data

Following wildfire, mountainous areas of the western United States are susceptible to debris flow during intense rainfall. Convective storms that can generate debris flows in recently burned areas may occur during or immediately after the wildfire, leaving insufficient time for development and implementation of risk mitigation strategies. We present a method for estimating post-fire debris-flow hazards prior to wildfire using historical data to define the range of potential fire severities for a given location based on the statistical distribution of severity metrics obtained from remote sensing. Estimates of debris-flow likelihood, magnitude, and triggering rainfall threshold based upon the statistically simulated fire severity data provide hazard predictions consistent with those calculated from fire severity data collected after wildfire. Simulated fire severity data also produce hazard estimates that replicate observed debris-flow occurrence, rainfall conditions, and magnitude at a monitored site in the San Gabriel Mountains of southern California. Future applications of this method should rely upon a range of potential fire severity scenarios for improved pre-fire estimates of debris-flow hazard. The method presented here is also applicable to modeling other post-fire hazards, such as flooding and erosion risk, and for quantifying trends in observed fire severity in a changing climate.

California, Colorado, Washington↗