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Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center
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GECSC researchers conduct multi-purpose geologic mapping and topical scientific studies to address issues concerning geologic, climatic, ecosystem, and land surface changes; human interactions with the environment; and physical, chemical, and biological characterization of the Earth's surface and upper crust.
News
Big Thompson Floods of 1976 and 2013 - A Visual Comparison
The Big Thompson Floods of 1976 and 2013 shown visually. The inundation images reflect the location and peak streamflows at certain points between Estes Park and Loveland, Colorado.
Follow National Wildfire Information in the Palm of Your Hand: GeoMAC Goes Mobile
The public can now access information about active wildfires across the country using a smartphone.
U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Department of Energy Release Online Public Dataset and Viewer of U.S. Wind Turbine Locations and Characteristics
Today, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), in partnership with DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the American Wind Energy Association, released the United States Wind Turbine Database (USWTDB) and the USWTDB Viewer to access this new public dataset.
Publications
Identification of conservation and restoration priority areas in the Danube River based on the multi-functionality of river-floodplain systems
Large river-floodplain systems are hotspots of biodiversity and ecosystem services but are also used for multiple human activities, making them one of the most threatened ecosystems worldwide. There is wide evidence that reconnecting river channels with their floodplains is an effective measure to increase...
Funk, Andrea; Martinez-Lopez, Javier; Borgwardt, Florian; Traunder, Daniel; Bagstad, Kenneth J.; Balbi, Stefano; Magrach, Ainhoa; Villa, Ferdinando; Hein, Thomas Modeling landowner interactions and development patterns at the urban fringe
Population growth and unrestricted development policies are driving low-density urbanization and fragmentation of peri-urban landscapes across North America. While private individuals own most undeveloped land, little is known about how their decision-making processes shape landscape-scale patterns of urbanization over time. We introduce a hybrid...
Koch, Jennifer; Dorning, Monica; Van Berkel, Derek B.; Beck, Scott M.; Sanchez, Georgina M; Shashidharan, Ashwin; Smart, Lindsey S.; Zhang, Qiang; Smith, Jordan W.; Meentemeyer, Ross K. Towards globally customizable ecosystem service models
Scientists, stakeholders and decision makers face trade-offs between adopting simple or complex approaches when modeling ecosystem services (ES). Complex approaches may be time- and data-intensive, making them more challenging to implement and difficult to scale, but can produce more accurate and locally specific results. In contrast, simple...
Martinez-Lopez, Javier; Bagstad, Kenneth J.; Balbi, Stefano; Magrach, Ainhoa; Voigt, Brian; Athanasiadis, Ioannis; Pascual, Marta; Willcock, Simon; Villa, Ferdinando