Latest United States Geological Survey Stories
Will Help Determine Places with Habitat to Support WildlifeThe most detailed national vegetation U.S. land-cover map to date was released yesterday by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The map will enable conservation professionals to identify places in the country with sufficient habitat to support wildlife.The map, produced by the USGS Gap Analysis Program (GAP), can be viewed online and downloaded for free. "These data are critical for determining the status of biodiversity, as baseline...
GREENBELT, Md., June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- SGT, Inc., a leading provider of Engineering, Science, Project Management, and Information Technology services, today announced that the Department of Interior has awarded SGT the Technical Support Services Contract (TSSC). This contract supports the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. USGS EROS processes and distributes data from Landsat and other Earth observing...
The U.S. Geological Survey has awarded $2.7 million in cooperative agreements under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to the University of California, Berkeley; Central Washington University; University of California, San Diego; and UNAVCO, Inc., to improve networks that detect minute changes in the earth's crust caused by faulting in earthquake-prone regions.Monitoring these small changes (undetectable except through the methods of advanced geodesy) is an integral part of assessing...
USGS scientists are helping Haitians lay the groundwork for reconstruction and long-term earthquake monitoring in the wake of the Jan. 12, 2010, magnitude-7 earthquake, by providing geologic research that will assist with the establishment of new building codes in the country."USGS research will contribute to explicit recommendations to both the Haitian government and the international community that is assisting the reconstruction efforts," said Walter Mooney, USGS research geophysicist, who...
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) "” the federal agency responsible for recording and monitoring geographical, geological and geospatial trends "” has come up with a novel new way of tracking earthquakes. Researchers at the organization have begun following posts on the microblogging site Twitter to help determine the severity and pinpoint the origin of quakes."People like to tweet after earthquakes," explained USGS seismologist Paul Earle at an American Geophysical Union meeting in...
DAVIS, Calif., Dec. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Are you at risk from a large, damaging earthquake? A new online tool developed by OpenHazards Group, Inc., http://www.openhazards.com, quickly estimates the chances of a future earthquake and how much property damage it will do in any time period, anywhere in the world. OpenHazards is the creator of the first free, public earthquake hazard tool that offers vital information about earthquake hazards worldwide. The online "Hazard Viewer" shows earthquake...
WILMINGTON, N.C., Nov. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a letter to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary an independent group of scientists today characterized a United States Geological Survey (USGS) report being touted as the justification for a ban on import and trade in pythons as "unscientific." The independent group of scientists and herpetologists, including professors from the University of Florida, Arizona State, and Texas A&M among others penned members of Congress in...
The U.S. Geological Survey says it is awarding $5 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grants to upgrade earthquake monitoring networks. The money is being awarded to 13 U.S. universities. These stimulus grants will save lives as well as create jobs, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said. "More than 75 million Americans in 39 states face the risk of earthquakes. Through the modernization of seismic networks and data processing centers, scientists will be able to provide...
The U.S. Geological Survey says Atlanta area flooding last week involved magnitudes so great the odds of it happening were less than 1 in 500 in many areas. The USGS can reliably say just how bad these floods were. They were epic! said Brian McCallum, assistant director of the USGS Water Science Center in Georgia. On Tuesday, USGS crews said they measured the greatest flow ever recorded (28,000 cubic feet per second) on Sweetwater Creek near Austell, Ga. In Georgia, the USGS maintains a...
The U.S. Geological Survey says data from Landsat satellites played a central role in the creation of a new, award-winning type of water use mapping. Using Landsat imagery supplied by the USGS in combination with ground-based water data, the Idaho Department of Water Resources and the University of Idaho developed a novel method to create water-use maps that are accurate to the scale of individual fields, USGS officials said. The USGS Landsat archive, dating back to1972, has proven to be a...
