U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)

From liftoff in California to first light over the Himalayas. 🚀🏔️ Five years ago, Landsat 9 launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base, beginning a new chapter in the Landsat mission of recording Earth’s changing land surfaces. Landsat 9’s sensors brought advanced technology to detect more subtle differences, especially over water and dense forests, and more accurate surface temperature measurements. Together, Landsat 9 and Landsat 8 provide complete global land coverage every eight days. This consistent stream of observations is used by scientists, researchers, resource managers, farmers, planners and others around the world to monitor forests, water, agriculture, development and other changes across the landscape. Five years and more than 26,000 orbits later, the USGS-NASA mission continues adding about 750 new observations each day to one of the world’s longest-running records of Earth’s changing surface. How do you use Landsat data? Share your Landsat story with us in the comments.  Explore and download Landsat data: https://ow.ly/aAbL50ZRAfJ 📸1: Landsat 9 launches aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, on September 27, 2021. Credit: NASA 📸2: On its first day of data collection, October 31, 2021, Landsat 9 captured this sweeping view of the Himalayas, including Kathmandu, Nepal, and snow-covered mountains, glaciers and glacial lakes across Nepal and China. Credit: USGS #Landsat9 #EarthObservation #LandsatLegacy

Public access to water data is not going away — but the way you access it is changing.   Water Data for the Nation (WDFN) is the home for USGS Water Data. NWISWeb, the legacy system that previously published and visualized USGS water data, is to be decommissioned by March 2027. All data and most functionality previously available in NWISWeb are now provided by WDFN. You’re invited to a webinar that will cover the decommissioning and highlight new features of WDFN that are available now for accessing USGS water data. 📅 Webinar Details: Date: Thursday, October 1, 2026 Time: 2:00-3:00 PM ET Who should attend: All users of USGS water data Join the webinar with this link: https://ow.ly/a3NJ50ZR7jg  Decommissioning will happen in stages beginning in mid-November and ending in late February on this approximate timeline:  📈 NWISWeb will retire all remaining pages, including the legacy Current Conditions (/uv) pages, in phases from November 2026 through February 2027, ending with full decommissioning.  📈 WaterServices (https://ow.ly/v1cM50ZR7jh) will be decommissioned on February 22, 2027. Service degradation begins November 2026, with planned outages in January 2027. All automated access should migrate to https://ow.ly/POcM50ZR7ji before January 2027 to avoid interruptions.  📈 NWISMapper will be decommissioned in November 2026. Bookmarks will redirect to Explore USGS Water Data for one year. Legacy NWISMapper has already begun experiencing degradation, including the loss of some connections to NWISWeb due to necessary infrastructure updates. 📷 Screenshot of the Explore USGS Water Data taken on September 21 at 1:30pm ET. Explore USGS Water Data allows users to view monitoring locations through customizable queries, including historic water data.

Need to track how western rangelands are changing? Landsat data can help. More than 40 years of Landsat observations provide a long-term view of changes in vegetation and ground cover across western rangelands. Join USGS Ecologist Matthew Rigge for an upcoming webinar on RCMAP, the Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection project, and how its data can be used to monitor rangeland change. Developed by scientists from the USGS and Bureau of Land Management, RCMAP provides annual maps of vegetation and ground cover across western U.S. rangelands and the sagebrush biome of Canada from 1985 to the present. Weekly maps of exotic annual grass and herbaceous cover provide more timely information that can support fire and grazing management decisions. 📅 Webinar Details: Date: Tuesday, September 22, 2026 Time: 12:00–1:00 PM CDT Who should attend: Anyone interested in RCMAP data or rangeland vegetation monitoring ➡️ Register here: https://ow.ly/iYsk50ZOMkc What You’ll Learn: 🔸 What RCMAP cover estimates mean and how they can be used 🔸 Examples of how the data can support management decisions 🔸 How to access, process, and download RCMAP products 🔸 Answers to questions about the data and available tools 📷 Screenshot of RCMAP data.

In the Everglades, some of the most challenging conservation problems are becoming powerful training grounds for the next generation of scientists. The USGS, National Park Service (NPS), and the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) jointly operate the Invasive Reptile Research Internship Program, launched in 2014 to support applied research on invasive reptiles such as the Burmese python and black and white tegu lizard. The program complements the NPS Everglades BioCorps Internship Program and trains early-career biologists in rigorous field and laboratory methods. Interns gain hands-on experience in wildlife research and conservation while building professional networks that support graduate school and careers in the biological sciences. Field work includes tracking Burmese pythons with radiotelemetry in Big Cypress National Preserve and conducting Early Detection and Rapid Response removals of black and white tegu lizards in Everglades National Park. Laboratory components offer opportunities to investigate the biology of invasive reptiles through detailed necropsy and related analyses. A hallmark of the program is its focus on professional growth. Over the years, the internship has expanded partnerships with resource managers and research collaborators, and alumni have gone on to contribute to peer-reviewed publications, pursue advanced degrees, and work as wildlife professionals in the U.S. and abroad. Learn more about the program and its impact: https://ow.ly/FOEt50ZLypq 📷 1: USGS Biologist Mark Sandfoss and UF/USGS Intern Dorian Miranda ultrasound a female scout Burmese python to determine follicle development in March 2026. 📷 2: USGS Biologists Lisa McBride and Matthew Metcalf along with UF/USGS Interns (left to right: Cohen Eastridge, Eli Suastegui, Thien Nguyen, and Dorian Miranda) hold a recently captured untransmitted Burmese python who was found on a nest near a transmitted female scout Burmese python in June 2025. 📷 3: USGS Biologist Matthew Metcalf holds a tegu captured in Big Cypress National Preserve during an Early Detection Rapid Response event. Credit: USGS

The USGS awarded $1 million in federal grants to 16 states, local, and Tribal governments in 2026 to support landslide risk reduction and enhance public safety nationwide. For the past three years, USGS landslide grants have supported projects that improve our understanding of landslide risks, map and assess hazards, and inform strategies to help communities prepare for and mitigate their impacts. This year’s recipients will take on projects ranging from developing countywide landslide inventories to creating new strategies for responding to landslide events. Notable projects include: ➡️ The Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska will convene a regional partnership to create a strategic plan for landslide risk reduction, support communities, and share information on landslide issues in Southeast Alaska. ➡️ Pennsylvania Geological Survey will produce a high‑resolution landslide inventory and susceptibility map for Washington County to support safer land‑use planning, emergency management, and public understanding of geologic hazards, particularly along the high-risk I-79 corridor. ➡️ Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology will compile Nevada’s first statewide landslide inventory, supplemented by standardized watershed assessments for potential post‑wildfire debris flow hazards. Funds will also be used to establish new protocols that unify public, state and federal landslide rapid-response guidance. ➡️ North Dakota Geological Survey will advance landslide mapping with higher-precision techniques, creating detailed maps that help public agencies, industry, and communities plan infrastructure in areas with growing landslide impacts. These grants, originally authorized under the National Landslide Preparedness Act, now mark a significant step in advancing the nation’s ability to identify at-risk areas and protect communities from landslides. Find the full list of funded projects and additional details: https://lnkd.in/gtWwMpyM 📷: Aerial photo of the Big Sur landslide in 2017. Credit: Bob Van Wagenen, DOI Office of Aviation Contract.

Does host movement play a role in the spread of chronic wasting disease?🦌 Chronic wasting disease (CWD), a fatal neurodegenerative prion disease affecting deer, elk, and other cervids, has now been detected in 37 U.S. states and 5 Canadian provinces. Understanding how the disease spreads across landscapes is critical to managing it, and one hypothesis is that regions where deer move long distances, as with seasonal migrations, there should be faster disease spread. A new USGS study tests this hypothesis. Using published GPS deer movement and CWD spread data, scientists built statistical models predicting how fast CWD should spread based on the migration and dispersal patterns of mule deer and white-tailed deer. They then compared these predictions to two decades of observed CWD detection data across North America (2005 to 2022). The results were only partially consistent with expectations: 💠Western epicenters with highly mobile mule deer did have faster CWD spread rates than regions with only white-tailed deer. 💠In the Canadian Prairie Provinces (Alberta/Saskatchewan), deer movements were shorter than in Colorado or Wyoming, yet CWD spread faster there. 💠Predicted CWD spread based on deer movement resulted in slower rates than the observed CWD rates showing that accounting for migration or juvenile dispersal did not fully explain the observed CWD rate estimates. This study provides the first estimates of CWD spread rates across the U.S. and Canada. These results help to inform an important management tradeoff: deer movements can contribute to disease spread, but migration may also help support resilient and healthy wildlife populations. Read the study 👉 https://lnkd.in/gkyBjKqQ 🎥1: An animated map of the distribution of chronic wasting disease in the U.S. and Canada from 2007-2024.

Experts in Their Field The ShakeAlert® Earthquake Early Warning System depends on a network of over 1,600 seismic stations operating across California, Oregon, and Washington. Every station has a role in helping protect over 50 million people across the West Coast. Beyond the equipment and infrastructure that monitor earthquake activity are the indispensable ShakeAlert field engineers who maintain them. This crew spends countless hours keeping these earthquake sentinels in good working order so they can detect earthquakes and support the delivery of alerts 24/7/365. Summer field season is one of the busiest times of year for maintaining the ShakeAlert System sensor network. Field crews travel to nearby and remote stations to inspect equipment, troubleshoot communications, replace aging components, and perform routine maintenance. This work helps ensure seismic data continues flowing quickly and reliably to monitoring centers, supporting the delivery of ShakeAlert EEW alerts. The photos below highlight some of the people and places that help keep the ShakeAlert System running. 📷1: Pacific Northwest Seismic Network crew members work around the newly installed infrastructure for a seismic station in Washington state. 📷2: A UC Berkeley field technician overhauls the power system and replaces batteries at Hat Creek Observatory outside Burney, California. 📷3: Fieldwork and maintenance provide opportunities for continuous learning and training the next generation. University of Oregon OHAZ undergraduate field technicians work alongside the lead seismic field technician at a station in Douglas County, Oregon. Pacific Northwest Seismic Network Oregon Hazards Lab CALIFORNIA EMERGENCY SERVICES ASSOCIATION

🚨 An updated view of the Nation’s geology is now available! The USGS National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program has expanded the Cooperative National Geologic Map to include Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories. The map brings together decades of geologic mapping by state and federal surveys into an integrated, standardized view of the Nation’s geology. It provides information about geologic features at and beneath the land surface and provides insights into: 🔹The age and composition of geologic units across regions 🔹The regional distribution of geologic materials, which inform decisions about natural resources and geologic hazards This expanded national view of our geology can help inform land-use decisions, infrastructure planning, natural resource management, and national security. The map interface is a product of the National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB), a Federal-State collaborative effort that brings standardized geologic information to the public. This Cooperative map is integrated with the overall NGMDB database, which gives users access to more detailed maps and information about the Nation’s geology. Explore the map 👉 https://ow.ly/jLSN50ZIso8 📷: Portions of the updated map showing Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.

A year at Zion National Park, one frame at a time. 🏞️ This time-lapse captures the North Fork Virgin River with Zion’s iconic Watchman formation in the background, showing how the river and surrounding landscape change over the seasons. USGS Hydrologic Imagery Visualization and Information System (HIVIS) cameras at this and other water monitoring sites across the country help the USGS remotely track current conditions, identify technical issues, verify remote measurements, and provide a visual record of conditions. Want to see the latest view of the river? Check out the camera 👉 https://lnkd.in/gbpphn3J #NationalParkWeek

A first for STATEMAP. 🗺️ For the first time, a geologic map funded through the STATEMAP component of the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program was published in direct response to a Tribal Nation’s science needs. The Utah Geological Survey, in collaboration with the Navajo Nation, recently published the geologic map of the Oljeto 7.5-minute quadrangle in southeastern Utah. STATEMAP plays a critical role nationwide by matching federal funds with state geological surveys to produce high-priority geologic maps that address societal needs, from infrastructure planning and responsible land use to natural hazard mitigation and groundwater resource management. Geologic maps provide a foundational framework for understanding Earth’s resources and processes. Detailed mapping gives resource managers and other stakeholders the scientific information they need to make informed decisions about the land and resources they manage. For the Oljeto quadrangle, the mapping work supports Navajo Nation science needs by helping better understand the relationship between regional geology and groundwater resources. This collaboration demonstrates the value of STATEMAP in supporting high-priority mapping needs and building partnerships between state geological surveys and Tribal Nations. Learn more 👉https://ow.ly/1fmH50ZFKR6 📷: Geologists and members of the Navajo Nation conduct geologic mapping fieldwork in the Oljeto quadrangle on the Navajo Nation.