Global Fiducials Program Imagery: New Opportunities for Geospatial Research, Outreach, and Education
Abstract
MOLNIA, Bruce F., PRICE, Susan D. and, KING, Stephen E., U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 562 National Center, Reston, VA 20192, sprice@usgs.gov The Civil Applications Committee (CAC), operated by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), is the Federal interagency committee that facilitates Federal civil agency access to U.S. National Systems space-based electro-optical (EO) imagery for natural disaster response; global change investigations; ecosystem monitoring; mapping, charting, and geodesy; and related topics. The CAC's Global Fiducials Program (GFP) has overseen the systematic collection of high-resolution imagery to provide geospatial data time series spanning a decade or more at carefully selected sites to study and monitor changes, and to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of dynamic and sensitive areas of our planet. Since 2008, more than 4,500 one-meter resolution EO images which comprise time series from 85 GFP sites have been released for unrestricted public use. Initial site selections were made by Federal and academic scientists based on each site's unique history, susceptibility, or environmental value. For each site, collection strategies were carefully defined to maximize information extraction capabilities. This consistency enhances our ability to understand Earth's dynamic processes and long-term trends. Individual time series focus on Arctic sea ice change; temperate glacier behavior; mid-continent wetland dynamics; barrier island response to hurricanes; coastline evolution; wildland fire recovery; Long-Term Ecological Resource (LTER) site processes; and many other topics. The images are available from a USGS website at no cost, in an orthorectified GeoTIFF format with supporting metadata, making them ideal for use in Earth science education and GIS projects. New on-line tools provide enhanced analysis of these time-series imagery. For additional information go to http://gfp.usgs.gov or http://gfl.usgs.gov.Bering Glacier is the largest and longest glacier in continental North America, with a length of 190 km, a width of 40 km, and an area of about 5,000 km2. In the nine years between the 1996 image and the 2005 image, parts of the terminus retreated by more than 5 km and thinned by as much as 100 m. Long-term monitoring of Bering Glacier will enable scientists to better understand the dynamics of surging glaciers as well as how changing Alaska climate is affecting temperate glacier environments.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFMED34A..01P
- Keywords:
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- 0933 EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICS / Remote sensing;
- 1616 GLOBAL CHANGE / Climate variability;
- 1630 GLOBAL CHANGE / Impacts of global change;
- 1640 GLOBAL CHANGE / Remote sensing