Research Opportunities in Geography at the U.S. Geological Survey (2002) / Chapter Skim
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2 Geography at the USGS
2 Geography at the USGS
Pages 25-46
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From page 25... ...
2 Geography at the USGS The fixture of geography at the USGS evolves against the backdrop of the past and present. Tradition is important as a precursor to change, and the present provides a starting point for the fixture.
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From page 26... ...
Because geography offers a spatial view of the world, much of the discipline's scientific effort goes to exploring how spatial processes operate and how spatial frameworks interact with other basic processes, such as those of physics, chemistry, biology, sociology, political science, and economics. Many geographers are scientists in the sense that they conduct their research according to commonly accepted methods of objective hypothesis testing using repeatable observations.
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GEOGRAPHYAT THE USGS 27 · Spatial representation using visual, tactile, verbal, mathematical, digital, and cognitive methods. Environmental .,, dynamics an I c, Environmentall ~ societal O dynamics A 6 o Human/ societal dynamics ~ n P ~ 9 e ~ a, :— _ c cat ~ O FIGURE 2.1 The matrix of geographic perspectives.
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From page 28... ...
were all organizing officials of the NGS, and they were instrumental in defining National Geographic Society's simple but powerful statement of purpose, which still guides the organization: "For the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge." As geology and geography grew into more analytic sciences both fields required scientific societies for the exchange of formal scientific information, rather than the more general venues offered by the American Geographical Society or the National Geographic Society. Both fields were also dissatisfied with the general approach to science by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, where they shared an organizational section (Eckel, 1982~.
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From page 29... ...
SOURCE: William Henry Jackson photograph 144, USGS Field Records and Photography Library, Denver.
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The USGS saw geographers as mappers—cartographers who created topographic maps who provided little input into the scientific analysis of earth and hydrologic processes. Beginning in the l950s, however, the quantitative scientific revolution finally came to the fore in geography.
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From page 31... ...
These regions comprised a natural resource base that would fuel the nation's economic development. Congress defined the survey areas and funded efforts directed by George Wheeler in the southwest, John Wesley Powell in the interior basin and range and Colorado plateau, Ferdinand Hayden in the northwest, and Clarence King along the fortieth parallel.
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From page 32... ...
The request demonstrates geography's strong role by including about $200,000 for topographic surveys, $100,000 for geologic surveys, and about $100,000 for all other expenses combined (Rabbitt, 1980~. The importance of the early USGS's geographic or topographic work led to the creation of the position of Chief Geographer.
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From page 33... ...
Although there was continued emphasis on stream gaging for water resource development and the geologic work that led to the development of minerals and fuels, there was a gradual shift away from other issues that were specifically related to societal concerns. During the first half of the twentieth century geology and hydrology grew into sophisticated sciences defined by their subject matter, while geography in the survey dwindled to descriptive cartographic work.
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From page 34... ...
Fifth, demand increased from the Survey's clients and partners for remotely sensed geographic data on land use and land cover for mapping. Finally, the entire national perspective on natural sciences began to focus on environmental systems rather than on individual resource components.
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Throughout the 1980s and l990s geography slowly became more prominent at the USGS, although there was no Chief Geographer during much of that time. The Geography Program begun by Gerlach merged with the National Mapping Program and eventually became the National Mapping Division.
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From page 36... ...
Previously most geographers were assigned to the task of completing the topographic mapping of the entire nation at scales of 1:62,500 or 1:24,000, a monumental effort that had begun more than a century before. As a reflection of the changing nature of geographic data, the USGS has also undertaken the task of creating an electronic national atlas, a digital version of the paper version.
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Hydrologists also search for historical trends in water resource data in attempts to predict future events. General systems approaches rely on systems defined by elements and their functional interconnections.
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The geographic perspective provides a significant tool for integrating data from a variety of sources and thus provides a common language for cooperation. Geographic Data and Research Geographic or location-specific data lie at the heart of much of the research conducted by the USGS.
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The primary collection of geographic techniques and technology that support the modern revolution in geographic research include surveying, cartography, geographic information systems, remote sensing, and spatial statistical analysis. These tools form the basis of a geographic technology that is used in the acquisition, assimilation, manipulation, and representation of spatial data.
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The USGS conducts physical, biological, and social science research within its disciplines (Figure 2.5~. Much of this science requires the collection of spatial information using in situ techniques, including personal observation and measurement with calibrated instruments.
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It is a scientific activity that uses sophisticated sensors to measure the amount of electromagnetic energy exiting an object or geographic area from a distance. These data are then analyzed to extract valuable information using heuristic logic and/or mathematical algorithms (Jensen, 2000~.
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multispectral remote-sensin~, system operated by the U.S. Geological Survey's EROS Data Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
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major imagery archiving projects such as aerial photography, Landsat satellite data, Space Shuttle radar data, and accurate digital elevation models. Cartography Cartography includes the vital geographic functions of information representation and visualization within a spatial context.
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'" ~ ~ . ~ ~ ~ ,, ,~ FIGURE 2.8 A digital cartographic image from the World Construction Set, showing diverse patterns over time.
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For example, assessments of water supplies from alpine areas can use an image that presents a simplified model integrating terrain, rock type, and snow depth to predict availability of drinking water from snowpack in an alpine region (Figure 2.9~. In other applications GIScience modelers overlay field data going back several hundred years to predict which vegetative types are most vulnerable to recurring severe forest fires.
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From page 46... ...
Selection of geographic research priorities will define the nature of geography's involvement in the reformed Survey. The following chapters explore these priorities in three general groupings: geographic data management, GIScience, and land surface-society interactions.
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