Thursday, April 12th, 2012
A new bedrock geologic map of the state was unveiled in a ceremony at the Vermont State House today, bringing a critical tool to land managers involved in natural resource planning and environmental assessment. The event, hosted by Gov. Peter Shumlin, included the Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources Deb Markowitz; Peter Lyttle of
Monday, April 9th, 2012
Depletion of the world’s clean water resources is a threat to life and livelihoods everywhere. The ready availability of clean water is fundamental to human well-being and sustainable development. But the increasing demand for clean water continues to outpace global resources and capabilities.
Wednesday, April 4th, 2012
Historical maps can be the last piece of the puzzle in genealogy research. What did the landscape look like decades ago when your ancestors settled in your town? How have place names, roads, and streams changed over time? Although technically out of date, these historical maps are often helpful to those researching a specific geographic
Monday, April 2nd, 2012
Nature’s Notebook needs you to get outside this spring, join many other observers across the nation, and help it reach its millionth observation of plant and animal life events. People like you — gardeners, farmers, birders, hikers, anglers, joggers, or all-around nature enthusiasts — are already recording the recurring events they see in the lives
Thursday, March 22nd, 2012
As the climate gets warmer, many forests are feeling the heat. Impacts range from increased forest fire hazards and tree mortality to detrimental beetle outbreaks and alterations to leaf abundance and bloom. When forest cover or composition changes, there are impacts to the availability of wood products, clean water, recreational opportunities, and habitats for many
Monday, March 19th, 2012
How do we understand what’s happening today by looking back millions of years? Scientists are looking at what climate conditions were like 3.3 to 3 million years ago, during a geologic period known as the Pliocene, and they are confident in the accuracy of their data. The Pliocene is the most recent period of sustained
Thursday, March 1st, 2012
A new study concludes that fossil fuel emissions are likely contributors to a substantial amount of organic carbon found on glaciers in Alaska. Fossil fuel emissions, which contain organic carbon, can speed up the rate of glacier melt when deposited on glacier surfaces. In addition, the organic molecules associated with these deposits can be transported
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) request for FY 2013 is $1.1 billion, a $34.5 million increase over FY 2012. At a 14 February budget briefing, USGS Director Marcia McNutt explained the difficult choices that were made in the tight budget environment, noting that targeted decreases were necessary to make room for priorities, which include programs
Tuesday, February 21st, 2012
Landsat 5 Earth imaging operations have been suspended for an additional 90 days while the U.S. Geological Survey Flight Operations Team (FOT) continues to investigate options for the resumption of imaging. Landsat 5 imaging was halted in November 2011 when an electronic component vital to transmission of the satellite’s Thematic Mapper (TM) data began showing
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
Meet Kristina Yamamoto, a geographer for the Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science at the U.S. Geological Survey, part of the National Geospatial Program. She is also in the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP). As a SCEP, I mainly work on remote sensing and GIS projects to support the research goals of the Geospatial
