18 Sep 2024

Automated Mapping of Land Cover Type within International Heterogenous Landscapes Using Sentinel-2 Imagery with Ancillary Geospatial Data

Abstract: A near-global framework for automated training data generation and land cover classification using shallow machine learning with low-density time series imagery does not exist. This study presents a methodology to map nine-class, six-class, and five-class land cover using two dates of a Sentinel-2 granule across seven international sites. The approach uses a series of spectral, textural, and distance decision functions combined with modified ancillary layers to create binary masks from which to generate a balanced set of training data applied to a random forest classifier. For the land cover masks, stepwise threshold adjustments were applied to reflectance, spectral index values, and Euclidean distance layers, with 62 combinations evaluated. Global and regional adaptive thresholds were computed. An annual 95th and 5th percentile NDVI composite was used to provide temporal corrections to the decision functions, and these corrections were compared against the original model. The accuracy assessment found that the regional adaptive thresholds for both the two-date land cover and the temporally corrected land cover could accurately map land cover type within nine-class, six-class, and five-class schemes. Lastly, the five-class and six-class models were compared with a manually labeled deep learning model (Esri), where they performed with similar accuracies. The results highlight performance in line with an intensive deep learning approach, and reasonably accurate models created without a full annual time series of imagery.

31 Oct 2023

Energy Atlas—Mapping Energy-Related Data for DoD Lands: Phase 3—Data and Portal Expansion: Northeast CONUS

Abstract: The DoD is a significant land user in northeast United States overseeing approximately 375 k acres of land with a total value of $113 B. The Department of Energy has found that major impacts from climate change will threaten energy infrastructure in the northeast US moving into the future. Current spatial information related to the energy resources and infrastructure on and adjacent to DoD installations can play a vital role in decision-making for sustainable and resilient installation planning in the region. The Energy Atlas (EA) portal provides a secure value-added resource to inform the decision-making process for current and future investment in installation infrastructure, energy management, and improvements to energy resiliency and sustainability. The EA aggregates spatial data for energy, infrastructure, and related environmental resources and facilitates access to that information through a secure online portal. The EA is hosted on a Common Access Card–authenticated portal accessible to DoD decision-makers and their partners through the Intelligence Community Geographic Information System (GIS) portal. The expansion of data coverage within the EA portal helps the DoD account for energy in contingency planning, acquisition, and lifecycle requirements in the northeast US and ensures facilities can maintain operations in the face of disruption.

27 Jan 2022

Energy Atlas—Mapping Energy-Related Data for DoD Lands in Alaska: Phase 2—Data Expansion and Portal Development

ABSTRACT: As the largest Department of Defense (DoD) land user in Alaska, the U.S. Army oversees over 600,000 hectares of land, including remote areas accessible only by air, water, and winter ice roads. Spatial information related to the energy resources and infrastructure that exist on and adjacent to DoD installations can help inform decision makers when it comes to installation planning. The Energy Atlas−Alaska portal provides a secure value-added resource to support the decision-making process for energy management, investments in installation infrastructure, and improvements to energy resiliency and sustainability. The Energy Atlas–Alaska portal compiles spatial information and provides that information through a secure online portal to access and examine energy and related resource data such as energy resource potential, energy corridors, and environmental information. The information database is hosted on a secure Common Access Card–authenticated portal that is accessible to the DoD and its partners through the Army Geospatial Center’s Enterprise Portal. This Enterprise Portal provides effective visualization and functionality to support analysis and inform DoD decision makers. The Energy Atlas–Alaska portal helps the DoD account for energy in contingency planning, acquisition, and life-cycle requirements and ensures facilities can maintain operations in the face of disruption.

14 Oct 2021

Energy Atlas—Mapping Energy-Related Data for DoD Lands in Alaska: Phase 1—Assembling the Data and Designing the Tool

Abstract: The U.S. Army is the largest Department of Defense (DoD) land user in Alaska, including remote areas only accessible by air, water, or wintertime ice roads. Understanding where energy resources and related infrastructure exist on and adjacent to DoD installations and training lands can help inform Army decision-makers, especially in remote locations like Alaska. The Energy Atlas–Alaska provides a value-added resource to support decision-making for investments in infrastructure and diligent energy management, helping Army installations become more resilient and sustainable. The Energy Atlas–Alaska utilizes spatial information and provides a consistent GIS (geographic information system) framework to access and examine energy and related resource data such as energy resource potential, energy corridors, and environmental information. The database can be made accessible to DoD and its partners through an ArcGIS-based user interface that provides effective visualization and functionality to support analysis and to inform DoD decision-makers. The Energy Atlas–Alaska helps DoD account for energy in contingency planning, acquisition, and life-cycle requirements and ensures facilities can maintain operations in the face of disruption.

10 Jun 2020

PUBLICATION NOTICE: Projecting Changes in Food Security Throughout Central America

Abstract: Climate non-stationarity continues to change the productivity of local food and water supply. These changes in supplies could result in starvation or surpluses, greatly affecting the surrounding populations and causing adverse effects such as malnutrition, mass migration, and political unrest. This study addresses the following questions regarding the future potential of land resources to support local populations with food and water: How will crop production be affected by changing environmental conditions? Which specific regions are expected to experience the greatest pressure? How might we expect land use to shift through the end of the 21st century, based on future environmental conditions? Current crop growth is analyzed, along with projected crop growth based on future climate scenarios. Recent historic anthropogenic biome maps are statistically correlated with recent historic climate data to generate models and are applied to anticipated future climates to generate future anthrome maps. The crop analysis is then coupled with the anthromes results, yielding a crop suitability forecast. This analysis is constrained to the area of Central America over the course of the 21st century for this study.