Bear River Watershed

A map outlining the drainage basin of the Bear River, Utah with topography and a satellite image as the base layers. This was produced by the Remote Sensing and GIS Laboratory, Department of Wildland Resources, Quinney College of Natural Resources in support of research conducted by faculty in the Department of Environment and Society in the same college

Great Salt Lake Watershed

A map outlining the drainage basin of the Great Salt Lake, Utah with shaded topography as the base layer. This was produced by the Remote Sensing and GIS Laboratory, Department of Wildland Resources, Quinney College of Natural Resources

Mojave Desert - Shaded Relief

Produced for the Mojave Desert Ecosystem Program under the United States Department of Defense Legacy Program in cooperation with the Department of the Interior. Cartography and image processing by: Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems Laboratory Department of Geography and Earth Resources College of Natural Resources Utah State University Logan, Utah 84322–5240 Cartographic preparation and printing by U.S. Geological Survey, 1998. Shaded Relief derived from U.S\u3e Geological Survey (USGS) National Elevation Database. Solar elevation 25°, azimuth 315°, exaggeration 5x, ambient light 0.5 Land ownership compiled from 1:100,000-scale Bureau of Land Management Surface Management Status maps. Populated places produced from USGS Geographic Names Information System. Roads and water bodies produced from USGS 1:100,000-scale Digital Line Graph data. Project boundary based on the Mojave Desert Section delineated by Robert G. Bailey, 1995, with a 50 kilometer buffer

Mojave Desert - Land Ownership and Administration

Produced for the Mojave Desert Ecosystem Program under the United States Department of Defense Legacy Program in cooperation with the Department of the Interior. Cartography and image processing by: Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems Laboratory Department of Geography and Earth Resources College of Natural Resources Utah State University Logan, Utah 84322–5240 Cartographic preparation and printing by U.S. Geological Survey, 1998. Land ownership compiled from 1:100,000-scale Bureau of Land Management Surface Management Status maps. Populated places produced from USGS Geographic Names Information System. Roads and water bodies produced from USGS 1:100,000-scale Digital Line Graph data. Project boundary based on the Mojave Desert Section delineated by Robert G. Bailey, 1995, with a 50 kilometer buffe

Mojave Desert - Satellite Image Map

Produced for the Mojave Desert Ecosystem Program under the United States Department of Defense Legacy Program in cooperation with the Department of the Interior. Cartography and image processing by: Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems Laboratory Department of Geography and Earth Resources College of Natural Resources Utah State University Logan, Utah 84322–5240 Cartographic preparation and printing by U.S. Geological Survey, 1998. Image map produced from 15 Landsat Thematic Mapper images recorded from 1991–1993, provided by U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as part of the Multi–Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium Activities. Bands 7, 4, 2. Simulated natural color composite. Land ownership compiled from 1:100,000-scale Bureau of Land Management Surface Management Status maps. Populated places produced from USGS Geographic Names Information System. Roads produced from USGS 1:100,000-scale Digital Line Graph data. Project boundary based on the Mojave Desert Section delineated by Robert G. Bailey, 1995, with a 50 kilometer buffer

Mineralogic variability of the Kelso Dunes, Mojave Desert, California derived from Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS) data

Mineral identification and mapping of alluvial material using thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing is extremely useful for tracking sediment transport, assessing the degree of weathering and locating sediment sources. As a result of the linear relation between a mineral's percentage in a given area (image pixel) and the depth of its diagnostic spectral features, TIR spectra can be deconvolved in order to ascertain mineralogic percentages. Typical complications such as vegetation, particle size and thermal shadowing are minimized upon examination of dunes. Actively saltating dunes contain little to no vegetation, are very well sorted and lack the thermal shadows that arise from rocky terrain. The primary focus of this work was to use the Kelso Dunes as a test location for an accuracy analysis of temperature/emissivity separation and linear unmixing algorithms. Accurate determination of ground temperature and component discrimination will become key products of future ASTER data. A decorrelation stretch of the TIMS image showed clear color variations within the active dunes. Samples collected from these color units were analyzed for mineralogy, grain size, and separated into endmembers. This analysis not only revealed that the dunes contained significant mineralogic variation, but were more immature (low quartz percentage) than previously reported. Unmixing of the TIMS data using the primary mineral endmembers produced unique variations within the dunes and may indicate near, rather than far, source locales for the dunes. The Kelso Dunes lie in the eastern Mojave Desert, California, approximately 95 km west of the Colorado River. The primary dune field is contained within a topographic basin bounded by the Providence, Granite Mountains, with the active region marked by three northeast trending linear ridges. Although active, the dunes appear to lie at an opposing regional wind boundary which produces little net movement of the crests. Previous studies have estimated the dunes range from 70% to 90% quartz mainly derived from a source 40 km to the west. The dune field is assumed to have formed in a much more arid climate than present, with the age of the deposit estimated at greater than 100,000 years

Gap analysis: a geographic approach for assessing national biological diversity

The global concern with reduction in biodiversity has generated responses in the United States, such as the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Although the ESA has had some effect, the species-by-species approach presents a problem because it does not consider the broad ecological principles of biodiversity including the need for balance between different species and their combined influence on a given habitat. There is an implicit assumption that national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and other protected areas provide for conservation needs. However, these areas have not necessarily been delineated on the basis of animal habitat zones or ecologically significant units. Gap Analysis is an evaluation method providing a systematic approach for assessing the protection afforded biodiversity in a given area. It uses geographic information systems to identify gaps in biodiversity protection that may be filled by the establishment of new preserves or changes in land-use practices. Gap Analysis has three primary layers: (1) distribution of vegetation types delineated from satellite imagery, (2) land ownership, and (3) distribution of vegetation types delineated from satellite imagery, habitat preference models. Vegetation classification procedures using satellite image or aerial photograph analysis are linked to wildlife/ habitat databases. Gap analysis includes seral as well as climax vegetation, and classes must be compatible with those used in neighboring states. The examples of these procedures for the Utah Gap Analysis are given with some reference to Gap Analysis in other states. The overall approach provides a logical base for evaluating and protecting national biological diversity

Managing Protein in Spring Wheat with Aerial and Satellite Imagery

Nitrogen fertilizer application can help wheat growers increase crop value and marketability by increasing grain quality. Nitrogen (N) is often applied at heading as a method of increasing protein content and therefore quality of wheat. Our objectives were to obtain spectral signatures of wheat under various N rates (0, 72, 180, 234 kg N ha-1), test various spectral methods of identifying crop stress, and observe the grain protein response to a midseason N application. Spectral data from satellite and aerial platforms were compared to preseason N treatments and flag-leaf tissue samples. Spectral data correlated well with preseason and flag leaf tissue analysis (r2 = 0.58-0.82). Grain protein increased on plots that received an additional 54 kg of N ha-1 at anthesis almost 2% in the N stressed plots (72 kg N ha-1) and 0.3-0.4% on plots with sufficient N (234 and 180 kg N ha-1). Wheat stress detected and managed with help from satellite and aerial platforms could help growers increase revenue and decrease N over-application

Nucleon Structure and Parity-Violating Electron Scattering

We review the area of strange quark contributions to nucleon structure. In particular, we focus on current models of strange quark vector currents in the nucleon and the associated parity-violating elastic electron scattering experiments from which vector- and axial-vector currents are extractedComment: 40 pages including 7 figures; review article to be published in Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Upland Bare Ground and Riparian Vegetative Cover Under Strategic Grazing Management, Continuous Stocking, and Multiyear Rest in New Mexico Mid-grass Prairie

On the Ground • We compared land cover attributes on rangeland pastures with strategically managed ranches (SGM), continuously stocked (CS), and rested pastures. • SGM pastures had less upland bare ground and more riparian vegetative cover than adjoining CS pastures, and SGM pastures had bare ground cover comparable to pastures rested from grazing for three or more years. • Differences in riparian cover between management types were greatest in years of near-average precipitation and lower in years of high precipitation or drought. • Remote sensing technologyprovided a means of quantifying range condition and comparing management effectiveness on large landscapes in a constantly changing environment