Geology topics

Mark Shasby

Publications and source records attributed to Mark Shasby.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2017

Five-year external reviews of the eight Department of Interior Climate Science Centers: Alaska Climate Science Center

This report primarily addresses the first two purposes of the review while providing comments on the third as identified by the science review team (SRT). A separate report of recommendations for the recompetition, based upon compiled observation from all three reviews conducted in 2016, was submitted to NCCWSC on April 15, 2016 to assist with the development of recompetition documents. To further address host-university administrative competencies and efficiencies, separate interviews of host-university faculty and administrators were conducted by NCCWSC staff in conjunction with the on-site component of the reviews.

Alaska↗

USGS2015

USGS Arctic Science Strategy

The United States is one of eight Arctic nations responsible for the stewardship of a polar region undergoing dramatic environmental, social, and economic changes. Although warming and cooling cycles have occurred over millennia in the Arctic region, the current warming trend is unlike anything recorded previously and is affecting the region faster than any other place on Earth, bringing dramatic reductions in sea ice extent, altered weather, and thawing permafrost. Implications of these changes include rapid coastal erosion threatening villages and critical infrastructure, potentially significant effects on subsistence activities and cultural resources, changes to wildlife habitat, increased greenhouse-gas emissions from thawing permafrost, threat of invasive species, and opening of the Arctic Ocean to oil and gas exploration and increased shipping. The Arctic science portfolio of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and its response to climate-related changes focuses on landscapescale ecosystem and natural resource issues and provides scientific underpinning for understanding the physical processes that shape the Arctic. The science conducted by the USGS informs the Nation's resource management policies and improves the stewardship of the Arctic Region.

Fact Sheet↗

USGS2009

Alaska Interagency Ecosystem Health Work Group

The Alaska Interagency Ecosystem Health Work Group is a community of practice that recognizes the interconnections between the health of ecosystems, wildlife, and humans and meets to facilitate the exchange of ideas, data, and research opportunities. Membership includes the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Alaska Department of Health and Social Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Sea Life Center, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Fact Sheet↗

USGS1989

Alaska Interim Land Cover Mapping Program; final report

In 1985, the U.S. Geological Survey initiated a research project to develop an interim land cover data base for Alaska as an alternative to the nationwide Land Use and Land Cover Mapping Program. The Alaska Interim Land Cover Mapping Program was subsequently created to develop methods for producing a series of land cover maps that utilized the existing Landsat digital land cover classifications produced by and for the major land management agencies for mapping the vegetation of Alaska. The program was successful in producing digital land cover classifications and statistical summaries using a common statewide classification and in reformatting these data to produce l:250,000-scale quadrangle-based maps directly from the Scitex laser plotter. A Federal and State agency review of these products found considerable user support for the maps. Presently the Geological Survey is committed to digital processing of six to eight quadrangles each year.

Open-File Report↗

USGS1987

Producing Alaska interim land cover maps from Landsat digital and ancillary data

In 1985, the U.S. Geological Survey initiated a research program to produce 1:250,000-scale land cover maps of Alaska using digital Landsat multispectral scanner data and ancillary data and to evaluate the potential of establishing a statewide land cover mapping program using this approach. The geometrically corrected and resampled Landsat pixel data are registered to a Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection, along with arc-second digital elevation model data used as an aid in the final computer classification. Areas summaries of the land cover classes are extracted by merging the Landsat digital classification files with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Public Land Survey digital file. Registration of the digital land cover data is verified and control points are identified so that a laser plotter can products screened film separate for printing the classification data at map scale directly from the digital file. The final land cover classification is retained both as a color map at 1:250,000 scale registered to the U.S. Geological Survey base map, with area summaries by township and range on the reverse, and as a digital file where it may be used as a category in a geographic information system.

Alaska↗

USGS1986

Vegetation and terrain mapping in Alaska using Landsat MSS and digital terrain data

During the past 5 years, the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center Field Office in Anchorage, Alaska has worked cooperatively with Federal and State resource management agencies to produce land-cover and terrain maps for 245 million acres of Alaska. The need for current land-cover information in Alaska comes principally from the mandates of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), December 1980, which requires major land management agencies to prepare comprehensive management plans. The land-cover mapping projects integrate digital Landsat data, terrain data, aerial photographs, and field data. The resultant land-cover and terrain maps and associated data bases are used for resource assessment, management, and planning by many Alaskan agencies including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Alaska Department of Natural Resources. Applications addressed through use of the digital land-cover and terrain data bases range from comprehensive refuge planning to multiphased sampling procedures designed to inventory vegetation statewide. The land-cover mapping programs in Alaska demonstrate the operational utility of digital Landsat data and have resulted in a new land-cover mapping program by the USGS National Mapping Division to compile 1:250,000-scale land-cover maps in Alaska using a common statewide land-cover map legend.

Alaska↗

USGS1985

Interim program for land cover mapping in Alaska utilizing Landsat digital data

The enactment of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) in 1980 imposed mandates on all major land management agencies in Alaska to prepare comprehensive resource and management plans to assess wildlife habitat, oil and gas exploration and development, wild and scenic river, land disposals, timber production, and archaeological and cultural resources, To meet these objective, the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) has embarked on a plan to classify land cover for the entire State of Alaska using Landsat digital data. the USGS, in cooperation with other agencies, has completely Landsat-derived land use and land cover classification of 115 million acres for the State of Alaska. With this work as a substantial foundation, the USGS has prepared a comprehensive plan for classifying the remaining areas of Alaska. The development of this program will lead to a complete interim land use and land cover classification system for Alaska and provide for the dissemination of map products, statistics, and acreage summaries for all areas of Alaska at 1:250,000 scale. It also allows for the dissemination of Landsat digital data for those areas.

Alaska↗

USGS1982

Refining Landsat classification results using digital terrain data

Scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation systems (EROS) Data Center have recently completed two land-cover mapping projects in which digital terrain data were used to refine Landsat classification results. Digital ter rain data were incorporated into the Landsat classification process using two different procedures that required developing decision criteria either subjectively or quantitatively. The subjective procedure was used in a vegetation mapping project in Arizona, and the quantitative procedure was used in a forest-fuels mapping project in Montana. By incorporating digital terrain data into the Landsat classification process, more spatially accurate landcover maps were produced for both projects.

Journal of Applied Photographic Engineering↗

USGS1981

Broad area forest fuels and topography mapping using digital Landsat and terrain data

A spatially registered digital data base of fuels and terrain information was generated for a test site on the Lolo National Forest in Montana. The data base was developed specifically for providing spatially relevant data to a mathematical fire behavior model developed by the Forest Service which integrates this information along with current weather data to produce realistic estimates of probable fire behavior. Methodologies for the processing and analysis of Landsat MSS and digital terrain data for the mapping of U.S. Forest Service fuel types were developed and demonstrated. Key elements in the mapping process were the development of a fuels terrain distribution model which provided a statistical description of the topographic distribution patterns of fuels within spectral classes, and secondly, the application of a layered classifier which incorporated the spectral and terrain data in a two-stage maximum likelihood classification framework for the mapping of fuels.

Montana↗