SEARCH · USGS Science

Results for “Land Use and Land Cover”

Search indexed USGS publications on groundwater, aquifers, geologic maps, mineral resources and earthquakes. Explore source records by subject and place.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 721 records · Page 40Linked to original sources

USGS2007

Land-Cover Change in the Southern Lake Tahoe Basin, California and Nevada, 1940-2002

The Lake Tahoe basin has been subject to significant landscape-altering human activity since the mid-1850s; in particular, widespread timber harvest from the 1850s to 1920s and urban development from the 1950s to the present. The consequences of changes such as impacted water quality, degraded biotic communities, and increased fire hazard resulting from modern activity have prompted rising levels of concern for the ecological integrity of the region. The goal of this project is to map, quantify, and describe the spatial and temporal distribution and variability of historical changes in land use and land cover in the southern Lake Tahoe basin for the period from 1940 to 2002 in an effort to establish an understanding of regional landscape change. This map shows areas of land-use/land-cover change in a 279-km2 portion of the Lake Tahoe basin identified using change-detection analysis of multitemporal land-use/land-cover datasets for four dates (1940, 1969, 1987, and 2002), which yielded three periods for analysis. Land use/land cover was mapped using manual (visual) interpretation techniques in a geographic information system (GIS) from multiple imagery sources: black-and-white digital orthophotos for 1940 and 1969, natural-color digital orthophotos for 1987, and IKONOS multispectral satellite imagery for 2002. The landscape was classified using a 0.4-hectare (1-acre) minimum mapping unit and a hierarchical classification system. Impervious-surface data was derived directly from the 2002 IKONOS imagery on a per-pixel basis using digital image processing and GIS data integration.

Scientific Investigations Map↗

USGS2012

Status and trends of land change in the United States--1973 to 2000

Summary U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Professional Paper 1794 is a four-volume series on the status and trends of the Nation’s land use and land cover, providing an assessment of the rates and causes of land-use and land-cover change in the United States between 1973 and 2000. Volumes A, B, C, and D provide analyses for the Western United States, the Great Plains, the Midwest–South Central United States, and the Eastern United States, respectively. The assessments of land-use and land-cover trends are conducted on an ecoregion-by-ecoregion basis, and each ecoregion assessment is guided by a nationally consistent study design that includes mapping, statistical methods, field studies, and analysis. Individual assessments provide a picture of the characteristics of land change occurring in a given ecoregion; in combination, they provide a framework for understanding the complex national mosaic of change and also the causes and consequences of change. Thus, each volume in this series provides a regional assessment of how (and how fast) land use and land cover are changing, and why. The four volumes together form the first comprehensive picture of land change across the Nation. This report is only one of the products produced by USGS on land-use and land-cover change in the United States. Other reports and land-cover statistics are available online at http://landcovertrends.usgs.gov .

Professional Paper↗

USGS2020

Quality control and assessment of interpreter consistency of annual land cover reference data in an operational national monitoring program

The U.S. Geological Survey Land Change Monitoring, Assessment and Projection (USGS LCMAP) initiative is working toward a comprehensive capability to characterize land cover and land cover change using dense Landsat time series data. A suite of products including annual land cover maps and annual land cover change maps will be produced using the Landsat 4-8 data record. LCMAP products will initially be created for the conterminous United States (CONUS) and then extended to include Alaska and Hawaii. A critical component of LCMAP is the collection of reference data using the TimeSync tool, a web-based interface for manually interpreting and recording land cover from Landsat data supplemented with fine resolution imagery and other ancillary data. These reference data will be used for area estimation and validation of the LCMAP annual land cover products. Nearly 12,000 LCMAP reference sample pixels have been interpreted and a simple random subsample of these pixels has been interpreted independently by a second analyst (hereafter referred to as "duplicate interpretations"). The annual land cover reference class labels for the 1984-2016 monitoring period obtained from these duplicate interpretations are used to address the following questions: 1) How consistent are the reference class labels among interpreters overall and per class? 2) Does consistency vary by geographic region? 3) Does consistency vary as interpreters gain experience over time; and 4) Does interpreter consistency change with improving availability and quality of imagery from 1984 to 2016? Overall agreement between interpreters was 88%. Class-specific agreement ranged from 46% for Disturbed to 94% for Water, with more prevalent classes (Tree Cover, Grass/Shrub and Cropland) generally having greater agreement than rare classes (Developed, Barren and Wetland). Agreement between interpreters remained approximately the same over the 12-month period during which these interpretations were completed. Increasing availability of Landsat and Google Earth fine resolution data over the 1984 to 2016 monitoring period coincided with increased interpreter consistency for the post-2000 data record. The reference data interpretation and quality assurance protocols implemented for LCMAP demonstrate the technical and practical feasibility of using the Landsat archive and intensive human interpretation to produce national, annual reference land cover data over a 30 year period. Protocols to quantify and enhance interpreter consistency are critical elements to document and ensure quality of these reference data.

Remote Sensing of Environment↗

USGS2012

Extending a prototype knowledge- and object-based image analysis model to coarser spatial resolution imagery: an example from the Missouri River

A prototype knowledge- and object-based image analysis model was developed to inventory and map least tern and piping plover habitat on the Missouri River, USA. The model has been used to inventory the state of sandbars annually for 4 segments of the Missouri River since 2006 using QuickBird imagery. Interpretation of the state of sandbars is difficult when images for the segment are acquired at different river stages and different states of vegetation phenology and canopy cover. Concurrent QuickBird and RapidEye images were classified using the model and the spatial correspondence of classes in the land cover and sandbar maps were analysed for the spatial extent of the images and at nest locations for both bird species. Omission and commission errors were low for unvegetated land cover classes used for nesting by both bird species and for land cover types with continuous vegetation cover and water. Errors were larger for land cover classes characterized by a mixture of sand and vegetation. Sandbar classification decisions are made using information on land cover class proportions and disagreement between sandbar classes was resolved using fuzzy membership possibilities. Regression analysis of area for a paired sample of 47 sandbars indicated an average positive bias, 1.15 ha, for RapidEye that did not vary with sandbar size. RapidEye has potential to reduce temporal uncertainty about least tern and piping plover habitat but would not be suitable for mapping sandbar erosion, and characterization of sandbar shapes or vegetation patches at fine spatial resolution.

Missouri River↗

USGS2012

Extending a prototype knowledge and object based image analysis model to coarser spatial resolution imagery: An example from the Missouri River

Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota↗

USGS2000

US GeoData Available Through the Internet

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) offers certain US GeoData data sets through the Internet. They can be retrieved using the World Wide Web or anonymous File Transfer Protocol (FTP). The data bases and their directory paths are as follows: * 1:24,000-scale digital line graph data in SDTS format (/pub/data/DLG/24K) * 1:2,000,000-scale digital line graph data in SDTS format (/pub/data/DLG/2M) * 1:100,000-scale digital line graph data (/pub/data/DLG/100K) * 1:100,000-scale land use and land cover data (/pub/data/LULC/100K) * 1:250,000-scale land use and land cover data (/pub/data/LULC/250K) * 1:24,000-scale digital elevation data (/pub/data/DEM/7.5min) * 1-degree digital elevation model data (/pub/data/DEM/250)

Fact Sheet↗

USGS2000

US GeoData Available Through the Internet

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) offers certain US GeoData data sets through the Internet. They can be retrieved using the World Wide Web or anonymous File Transfer Protocol (FTP). The data bases and their directory paths are as follows: * 1:24,000-scale digital line graph data in SDTS format (/pub/data/DLG/24K) * 1:2,000,000-scale digital line graph data in SDTS format (/pub/data/DLG/2M) * 1:100,000-scale digital line graph data (/pub/data/DLG/100K) * 1:100,000-scale land use and land cover data (/pub/data/LULC/100K) * 1:250,000-scale land use and land cover data (/pub/data/LULC/250K) * 1-degree digital elevation model data (/pub/data/DEM/250)

Fact Sheet↗

USGS2015

Effects of Hydrocarbon Extraction on Landscapes of the Appalachian Basin

An important and sometimes overlooked aspect of contemporary natural gas exploration, development, and delivery activities is the geographic profile and spatial footprint that these activities have on the land surface. The function of many ecosystems and the goods and services they provide, in large part, are the result of their natural spatial arrangement on the landscape. Shale-gas development can create alterations to the pattern of land use and land cover, and represents a specific form of land use and land cover change that can substantially impact critical aspects of the spatial pattern, form, and function of landscape interactions, including many biological responses. The need for energy resources has created numerous economic opportunities for hydrocarbon extraction in the Appalachian basin. The development of alternative energy natural gas resources from deep-shale drilling techniques, along with conventional natural gas extraction methods, has created a flurry of wells, roads, pipelines, and related infrastructure across many parts of the region. An unintended and sometimes overlooked consequence of these activities is their effect on the structure and function of the landscape and ecosystems. The collective effect of over 100,000 hydrocarbon extraction permits for oil, coal bed methane, Marcellus and Utica Shale natural gas wells, and other types of hydrocarbon gases and their associated infrastructure has saturated much of the landscape and disturbed the natural environment in the Appalachian basin. The disturbance created by the sheer magnitude of the development of these collective wells and infrastructure directly affects how the landscape and ecosystems function and how they provide ecological goods and services.

New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virgi↗

USGS2009

Simulated dynamics of carbon stocks driven by changes in land use, management and climate in a tropical moist ecosystem of Ghana

Sub-Saharan Africa is large and diverse with regions of food insecurity and high vulnerability to climate change. This project quantifies carbon stocks and fluxes in the humid forest zone of Ghana, as a part of an assessment in West Africa. The General Ensemble biogeochemical Modeling System (GEMS) was used to simulate the responses of natural and managed systems to projected scenarios of changes in climate, land use and cover, and nitrogen fertilization in the Assin district of Ghana. Model inputs included historical land use and cover data, historical climate records and projected climate changes, and national management inventories. Our results show that deforestation for crop production led to a loss of soil organic carbon (SOC) by 33% from 1900 to 2000. The results also show that the trend of carbon emissions from cropland in the 20th century will continue through the 21st century and will be increased under the projected warming and drying scenarios. Nitrogen (N) fertilization in agricultural systems could offset SOC loss by 6% with 30 kg N ha −1 year −1 and by 11% with 60 kg N ha −1 year −1 . To increase N fertilizer input would be one of the vital adaptive measures to ensure food security and maintain agricultural sustainability through the 21st century.

Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment↗

USGS2014

Evaluating changes in stream fish species richness over a 50-year time-period within a landscape context

Worldwide, streams and rivers are facing a suite of pressures that alter water quality and degrade physical habitat, both of which can lead to changes in the composition and richness of fish populations. These potential changes are of particular importance in the Southeast USA, home to one of the richest stream fish assemblages in North America. Using data from 83 stream sites in North Carolina sampled in the 1960’s and the past decade, we used hierarchical Bayesian models to evaluate relationships between species richness and catchment land use and land cover (e.g., agriculture and forest cover). In addition, we examined how the rate of change in species richness over 50 years was related to catchment land use and land cover. We found a negative and positive correlation between forest land cover and agricultural land use and average species richness, respectively. After controlling for introduced species, most (66 %) stream sites showed an increase in native fish species richness, and the magnitude of the rate of increase was positively correlated to the amount of forested land cover in the catchment. Site-specific trends in species richness were not positive, on average, until the percentage forest cover in the network catchment exceeded about 55 %. These results suggest that streams with catchments that have moderate to high (>55 %) levels of forested land in upstream network catchments may be better able to increase the number of native species at a faster rate compared to less-forested catchments.

North Carolina↗

USGS2008

Reconstructed historical land cover and biophysical parameters for studies of land-atmosphere interactions within the eastern United States

Over the past 350 years, the eastern half of the United States experienced extensive land cover changes. These began with land clearing in the 1600s, continued with widespread deforestation, wetland drainage, and intensive land use by 1920, and then evolved to the present-day landscape of forest regrowth, intensive agriculture, urban expansion, and landscape fragmentation. Such changes alter biophysical properties that are key determinants of land-atmosphere interactions (water, energy, and carbon exchanges). To understand the potential implications of these land use transformations, we developed and analyzed 20-km land cover and biophysical parameter data sets for the eastern United States at 1650, 1850, 1920, and 1992 time slices. Our approach combined potential vegetation, county-level census data, soils data, resource statistics, a Landsat-derived land cover classification, and published historical information on land cover and land use. We reconstructed land use intensity maps for each time slice and characterized the land cover condition. We combined these land use data with a mutually consistent set of biophysical parameter classes, to characterize the historical diversity and distribution of land surface properties. Time series maps of land surface albedo, leaf area index, a deciduousness index, canopy height, surface roughness, and potential saturated soils in 1650, 1850, 1920, and 1992 illustrate the profound effects of land use change on biophysical properties of the land surface. Although much of the eastern forest has returned, the average biophysical parameters for recent landscapes remain markedly different from those of earlier periods. Understanding the consequences of these historical changes will require land-atmosphere interactions modeling experiments.

Journal of Geophysical Research D: Atmospheres↗

USGS1976

Mapping and measuring land-cover characteristics of New River Basin, Tennessee, using Landsat digital tapes

Land-cover information is needed to select subbasins within the New River basin, Tennessee, for the study of hydrologic processes and also is needed to transfer study results to other sites affected by coal mining. It was believed that data recorded by the first Earth Resources Technology Satellite (Landsat-1) could be processed to yield the needed land-cover information. This study demonstrates that digital computer processing of the spectral information contained in each picture element (pixel) of 1.1 acres (4,500 m2) can produce maps and tables of the areal extent of selected land-cover categories. The distribution of water, rock, agricultural areas, evergreens, bare earth, hardwoods, and uncategorized areas, is portrayed on a map of the entire New River basin (1:62,500 scale) and on 15 quadrangles (1:24,000 scale). Although some categories are a mixture of land-cover types, they portray the predominant component named. Tables quantify the area of each category and indicate that agriculture covers 5 percent of the basin, evergreens cover 7 percent, bare earth covers 6 percent, three categories of hardwoods cover 81 percent, and water, rock, and uncategorized areas each cover less than 1 percent of the basin.

Tennessee↗

USGS2022

Tree regrowth duration map from LCMAP collection 1.0 land cover products in the conterminous United States, 1985–2017

Forest covers about one-third of the land area of the conterminous United States (CONUS) and plays an important role in offsetting carbon emissions and supporting local economies. Growing interest in forests as relatively cost-effective nature-based climate solutions, particularly restoration and reforestation activities, has increased the demand for information on forest regrowth and recovery following natural and anthropogenic disturbances (e.g., fire, harvest, or thinning). However, a wall-to-wall mapping of the CONUS tree regrowth duration at an annual time interval and 30-m resolution is still challenging. In this study, we utilized the annual land cover products to develop a dataset to quantify forest regrowth duration for CONUS over 1985–2017. The land cover data used to derive the tree regrowth duration map is from the primary land cover product in the U.S. Geological Survey’s Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) collection. The LCMAP product used all available Landsat images to detect disturbances over forest and classify Grass/Shrub to Tree Cover transitions on an annual basis. The average regrowth duration was then calculated for each pixel. The regrowth duration map was validated using human interpreted annual reference data that were collected independently. The validation results show one-year of underestimation and 6-year standard deviation of error between the reference data and regrowth duration map. In southeastern CONUS, where major tree regrowth activities have been observed, our map showed higher accuracy with less than one-year bias and 3.6 years standard deviation of error. Forest in the southeast took around 5 years to recover, which was faster than other regions of CONUS. Many pixels had multiple disturbances during the 33-year study period in the region. The spatial pattern of the tree regrowth indicated intense harvesting activities in this region. The Pacific Northwest coast region was the second main area of tree regrowth, but this region often took multiple decades to recover. Given increasing interest in forests as nature-based climate solutions, the tree regrowth duration map can be used to assess reforestation activities as well as forest recovery following natural disturbance and harvesting.

Conterminous United States↗

USGS2014

A hierarchical community occurrence model for North Carolina stream fish

The southeastern USA is home to one of the richest—and most imperiled and threatened—freshwater fish assemblages in North America. For many of these rare and threatened species, conservation efforts are often limited by a lack of data. Drawing on a unique and extensive data set spanning over 20 years, we modeled occurrence probabilities of 126 stream fish species sampled throughout North Carolina, many of which occur more broadly in the southeastern USA. Specifically, we developed species-specific occurrence probabilities from hierarchical Bayesian multispecies models that were based on common land use and land cover covariates. We also used index of biotic integrity tolerance classifications as a second level in the model hierarchy; we identify this level as informative for our work, but it is flexible for future model applications. Based on the partial-pooling property of the models, we were able to generate occurrence probabilities for many imperiled and data-poor species in addition to highlighting a considerable amount of occurrence heterogeneity that supports species-specific investigations whenever possible. Our results provide critical species-level information on many threatened and imperiled species as well as information that may assist with re-evaluation of existing management strategies, such as the use of surrogate species. Finally, we highlight the use of a relatively simple hierarchical model that can easily be generalized for similar situations in which conventional models fail to provide reliable estimates for data-poor groups.

North Carolina↗

USGS2007

Trinity River Basin, Texas

In 1991 the Trinity River Basin National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) will include assessments of surface-water and ground-water quality. Initial efforts have focused on identifying water-quality issues in the basin and on the environmental factors underlying those issues. Physical characteristics described include climate, geology, soils, vegetation, physiography, and hydrology. Cultural characteristics discussed include population distribution, land use and land cover, agricultural practices, water use, an reservoir operations. Major water-quality categories are identified and some of the implications of the environmental factors for water quality are presented.

Texas↗

USGS2012

Estimation of evapotranspiration across the conterminous United States using a regression with climate and land-cover data

Evapotranspiration (ET) is an important quantity for water resource managers to know because it often represents the largest sink for precipitation ( P ) arriving at the land surface. In order to estimate actual ET across the conterminous United States (U.S.) in this study, a water-balance method was combined with a climate and land-cover regression equation. Precipitation and streamflow records were compiled for 838 watersheds for 1971-2000 across the U.S. to obtain long-term estimates of actual ET. A regression equation was developed that related the ratio ET/ P to climate and land-cover variables within those watersheds. Precipitation and temperatures were used from the PRISM climate dataset, and land-cover data were used from the USGS National Land Cover Dataset. Results indicate that ET can be predicted relatively well at a watershed or county scale with readily available climate variables alone, and that land-cover data can also improve those predictions. Using the climate and land-cover data at an 800-m scale and then averaging to the county scale, maps were produced showing estimates of ET and ET/ P for the entire conterminous U.S. Using the regression equation, such maps could also be made for more detailed state coverages, or for other areas of the world where climate and land-cover data are plentiful.

Journal of the American Water Resources Associatio↗

USGS2010

Land-use pressure and a transition to forest-cover loss in the Eastern United States

Contemporary land-use pressures have a significant impact on the extent and condition of forests in the eastern United States, causing a regional-scale decline in forest cover. Earlier in the 20th century, land cover was on a trajectory of forest expansion that followed agricultural abandonment. However, the potential for forest regeneration has slowed, and the extent of regional forest cover has declined by more than 4.0%. Using remote-sensing data, statistical sampling, and change-detection methods, this research shows how land conversion varies spatially and temporally across the East from 1973–2000, and how those changes affect regional land-change dynamics. The analysis shows that agricultural land use has continued to decline, and that this enables forest recovery; however, an important land-cover transition has occurred, from a mode of regional forest-cover gain to one of forest-cover loss caused by timber cutting cycles, urbanization, and other land-use demands.

BioScience↗

USGS2023

Assessment of public and private land cover change in the United States from 1985–2018

An assessment of annual land cover on publicly and privately managed lands across the conterminous United States (CONUS) from 1985–2018 was performed, including land cover conversions within their management category, to inform future policy and land-use decision-making in natural resource management. Synthesizing land cover data with land management delineations aids our ability to address effects of land management decisions by public or private entities. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) version 2.1 data delineate land management categories and enable examination of land cover composition and change using the USGS Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) reference data. Average composition of our delineated CONUS results using LCMAP land cover classes is 40% Grass/Shrub (GS), 29% Tree Cover (TC), 18% Cropland (CP), 5% Developed (DV), 5% Wetland (WL), 1.8% Water (WR), and 0.9% Barren (BN). Private (public) land is composed of 35% (52%) GS, 27% (36%) TC, 25% (1%) CP, 7% (1%) DV, 5% (5%) WL, 2% (2%) WR, and less than 1% (3%) BN. Land cover change averaged less than 1% per year. The largest net percentage gains across CONUS were in DV land and GS, and the greatest net losses were in CP and TC. Approximately 73% of CONUS is private land and, thus, land cover change across CONUS is largely a reflection of private land change dynamics. Private compositional changes show net gains from 1985–2018 in DV (2.3%), WR (0.2%), and GS (0.1%) classes, while net losses occurred in CP (−1.9%), TC (−0.6%), WL (−0.1%), and BN (−0.01%). Public land cover changes show net gains in GS (1%), DV (0.2%), WR (0.01%), WL (0.05%), and BN (0.1%) classes, and net losses in CP (−0.3%) and TC (−1%). Our study reveals connections between land cover conversion and various policy and socioeconomic decisions through time.

Environmental Research Communications↗