#landuse — Public Fediverse posts

"Data centers represent 27% of development sites in the U.S. this year. It’s the second-highest category after apartment buildings..."

Land prices are up 79% from last year.

And "home builders cannot bid in that market, because a builder’s land budget is capped by what home buyers can afford. A data center operator faces no such constraint. The result is ... no homes at all."

#USA #AI #DataCenters #LandUse #housing #farming
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https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/06/ai-data-centers-are-transforming-rural-land-markets-fueling-backlash.html

"Data centers represent 27% of development sites in the U.S. this year. It’s the second-highest category after apartment buildings..."

Land prices are up 79% from last year.

And "home builders cannot bid in that market, because a builder’s land budget is capped by what home buyers can afford. A data center operator faces no such constraint. The result is ... no homes at all."

#USA #AI #DataCenters #LandUse #housing #farming
---
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/06/ai-data-centers-are-transforming-rural-land-markets-fueling-backlash.html

"Data centers represent 27% of development sites in the U.S. this year. It’s the second-highest category after apartment buildings..."

Land prices are up 79% from last year.

And "home builders cannot bid in that market, because a builder’s land budget is capped by what home buyers can afford. A data center operator faces no such constraint. The result is ... no homes at all."

#USA #AI #DataCenters #LandUse #housing #farming
---
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/06/ai-data-centers-are-transforming-rural-land-markets-fueling-backlash.html

"Data centers represent 27% of development sites in the U.S. this year. It’s the second-highest category after apartment buildings..."

Land prices are up 79% from last year.

And "home builders cannot bid in that market, because a builder’s land budget is capped by what home buyers can afford. A data center operator faces no such constraint. The result is ... no homes at all."

#USA #AI #DataCenters #LandUse #housing #farming
---
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/06/ai-data-centers-are-transforming-rural-land-markets-fueling-backlash.html

"Data centers represent 27% of development sites in the U.S. this year. It’s the second-highest category after apartment buildings..."

Land prices are up 79% from last year.

And "home builders cannot bid in that market, because a builder’s land budget is capped by what home buyers can afford. A data center operator faces no such constraint. The result is ... no homes at all."

#USA #AI #DataCenters #LandUse #housing #farming
---
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/06/ai-data-centers-are-transforming-rural-land-markets-fueling-backlash.html

Carbon credits as currently structured are ineffective for funding peatland restoration - but if effective, they could be actively harmful.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/25148486261437571

#wetlands #GHG #conservation #carbonCredits #rewetting #rewilding #carbon #peatland #peatlands #landuse #land #landscape #carbonOffsets #UK #Britain

- doi.org/10.1038/d415...
- www.unep.org/news-and-sto...
- wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.50...
#ClimateChange #Carbon #Policies #DecisionMaking #Emissions #Mitigation #DietaryChange #Diets #LandUse

UN finally admits global warmi...

🃏 Behold, a 'riveting' collection of business cards from Los Alamos that apparently needed its own public #exhibit. Because, obviously, nothing screams land use like a #Rolodex from the nuclear age! 🔍📇
https://clui.org/collections/los-alamos-business-cards/selection-cards #LosAlamosBusinessCards #NuclearAge #UniqueCollection #LandUse #HackerNews #ngated

The Radiative Effects Of Water Vapour From Terrestrial Evapotranspiration
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https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/adde72 <-- shared paper/letter
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https://zenodo.org/records/15413219 | https://zenodo.org/records/15416936 <-- shared open data, for “Model information and output for "The radiative effects…” ”
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https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-025-04191-w <-- shared paper
--
H/T @jan Umsonst | Earth System Nerd
“Water vapour accounts for roughly 50% of the modern greenhouse effect. Over continental regions, evapotranspiration (ET) is often limited by water availability. In this study, [the authors] spatially quantify how much of the total atmospheric water vapour evaporated most recently from land and calculate the relative contribution of that water vapour to the atmospheric radiative budget. Using a combination of tracer-enabled Earth system model simulations and radiative transfer calculations, [they were] able to explicitly quantify the 3D distribution of terrestrial vs. oceanic water vapour, and the spatial contribution of each to the surface and top of atmosphere radiative budgets. [They found] that over many continental regions, more than half of the total column-integrated water vapour originates from land ET, and that this vapour contributes up to 30 W/m² of longwave radiation into the surface in the annual mean (about 10% of the total). Understanding how terrestrial ET impacts the base-state of water vapour distribution and the water vapour greenhouse effect is critical to understanding how and where changes in terrestrial ET, driven by climate change, land use, etc, will modify the radiative properties of the atmosphere and thus the climate system…”
#water #hydrology #greehouseeffect #highperformancecomputing #HPC #evapotranspiration #Radiative #WaterVapour #spatial #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #atmosphere #model #modeling #earthsystemmodelling #terrestrial #oceanic #vapour #climatechange #landuse #changes #climatesystem

Resisting Abuse of Power

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN-EdHlh2c4

Family Told 'No Hiking' In Their Own Backyard...

#IJ #AbuseOfPower #LandUse

“According to the U.N., an estimated 40 percent of the world’s lands are degraded, largely from neglect, drought and over-grazing, meaning they’re less able to hold water and sequester carbon.

Restoring these lands could yield enormous benefits for food production, drought mitigation and carbon storage.”

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22082026/convention-to-combat-desertification-highlights-soil-crisis/

#Environment #soil #LandUse #Climate #Water #Biodiversity #UN #Desertification

What Energy Really Costs in Land: Looking Beyond the Fence Line

Why land area only matters when you count all the land that energy really uses

Arguments about land use in energy often begin with a photograph and end with a conclusion. A gas-fired power station occupies a compact industrial site. A nuclear station sits within a relatively small, well-defined boundary. A solar farm spreads across fields, while wind turbines may be visible across an entire landscape. From the fence line, the answer appears obvious: conventional generation is compact, while renewables are land hungry.

The observation is real, but the conclusion is often misleading because it counts only the land that can be seen. Modern energy systems are not simply power stations; they are supply chains. Every source of electricity requires some combination of mining, processing, transport infrastructure, maintenance, waste handling and eventual decommissioning. Looking only at the generating facility ignores much of the land required to support it.

This creates a problem in public debate. People often talk about “land used by energy” as though it were a single, obvious measure. In reality they are usually discussing one of three very different things. The first is the land physically occupied by the generating facility. The second is the land occupied throughout the entire lifecycle of producing a unit of electricity. The third is the ecological opportunity cost of that occupation: what other functions that land can still perform while the energy system is present.

All three questions are legitimate. None can safely be substituted for another.

The fence-line view

If the discussion is restricted to the generating site itself, then gas and nuclear perform exceptionally well.

A modern combined-cycle gas turbine plant can produce very large quantities of electricity from a remarkably compact site. Nuclear stations achieve something similar through the extraordinary energy density of uranium and their high utilisation rates. Ground-mounted solar, by contrast, requires substantially more surface area.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero estimated that, at the end of September 2024, ground-mounted solar installations occupied around 21,200 hectares across the United Kingdom, representing approximately 0.1% of the nation’s total land area. Typical projects occupy around 2.25 hectares per megawatt of installed capacity, although individual sites vary significantly.

These figures often appear in criticisms of solar farms, but it is important to be clear about what they mean. They describe the area contained within the solar development boundary. They do not describe the total land required to provide solar electricity, nor do they describe land that has necessarily been removed from all other uses.

This distinction becomes obvious when nuclear is added to the comparison.

One of the most comprehensive studies of electricity land use examined around 1,400 observations across 73 countries and 45 US states. It found nuclear to be the most land-efficient source of electricity generation in its dataset, with a median land-use intensity of approximately 7.1 hectares per terawatt-hour generated annually. That made nuclear dramatically more land efficient than ground-mounted solar and significantly more land efficient than coal.

If the question is simply “which technology generates the most electricity per hectare of generating site?”, nuclear wins and gas performs extremely well. On that narrow metric, critics of solar farms are broadly correct.

The problem is that this metric only captures the final stage of the energy system.

Looking beyond the power station

Once the boundaries are expanded beyond the generating facility, the picture becomes much more nuanced.

Gas generation depends upon a continuing industrial landscape that extends well beyond the power station itself. Every unit of electricity requires gas to be extracted, processed, compressed, transported and ultimately burned. This requires wells, gathering systems, access roads, processing plants, compressor stations and pipelines, many of which extend across large geographic areas.

The generating station may remain small, but the supporting infrastructure does not.

Research into natural gas infrastructure has demonstrated why this wider perspective matters. One study found that roads and pipelines accounted for more than a third of the directly affected habitat footprint associated with gas extraction activities. The authors concluded that these linear features should be considered alongside extraction facilities when assessing environmental impact because they contribute significantly to habitat fragmentation.

This does not mean gas suddenly becomes the worst-performing technology. It does mean that comparing the complete fenced area of a solar farm with only the turbine hall of a gas station is not comparing like with like.

Nuclear tells a different story. Like gas, nuclear has upstream requirements that are invisible from the generating site. Uranium must be mined, processed, enriched and manufactured into fuel. Nuclear facilities must eventually be decommissioned, and wastes must be managed for the long term. Yet even when these stages are included, nuclear remains one of the most land-efficient energy technologies available.

Solar presents the opposite pattern. Manufacturing panels requires materials, mining and factory infrastructure, but once the system is built there is no ongoing fuel extraction. No wells have to be drilled. No pipelines have to be maintained. No raw fuel has to be supplied throughout the next thirty or forty years of operation. Most of the lifecycle impact occurs before operation begins.

Not all hectares are equal

Even lifecycle land occupation does not tell the whole story.

A hectare occupied by a solar farm is not necessarily equivalent to a hectare occupied by a mine, a gas field, a road corridor or an industrial estate. The crucial question becomes not simply how much land is occupied, but what remains possible on that land while the energy system is present.

This is where ecological opportunity cost becomes important.

A wind farm may extend across a large geographic area, yet much of the intervening land remains available for agriculture. A solar farm may support sheep grazing, species-rich grassland, improved hedgerows and pollinator habitat. A gas pipeline corridor may occupy a comparatively small total area while simultaneously fragmenting habitats across a much wider landscape. A surface mine may transform ecosystems entirely.

The difference between land occupied and land lost is therefore critical.

So what is the right comparison?

The mistake in many energy debates is to use one metric for one technology and a different metric for another. Solar farms are usually assessed by counting every hectare within their development boundary. Gas power stations are often assessed only by counting the power station itself. Wind farms are frequently criticised using their entire spacing area, while coal stations are discussed without reference to the mines that feed them.

None of these comparisons are fair.

The correct approach is to apply the same system boundary to every technology. Either count only the generating facility for all technologies or count the full lifecycle for all technologies. Either focus on site occupation or focus on ecological outcomes. Mixing the approaches inevitably produces misleading results.

The useful question is not “How much land can I see?” but “How much land does the entire energy system occupy, for how long, and what can that land still do?”

Once those questions are separated, land use becomes a meaningful environmental metric rather than a convenient photograph.

Sources

• Lovering et al. (2022) Land-use intensity of electricity production and tomorrow’s energy landscape, PLOS ONE.
• Ritchie (2022) How does the land use of different electricity sources compare?, Our World in Data.
• Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (2024) Land Utilised by Solar PV.
• Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (2025) Ground-mounted Solar Energy Plants: Predicted Land Use.
• House of Commons Library (2025) Planning for Solar Farms.
• UNECE (2021) Life Cycle Assessment of Electricity Generation Options.
• Gibon (2022) Corrigendum to UNECE Integrated Life-cycle Assessment of Electricity Sources: Land Use.
• Jones et al. (2014) Quantifying Habitat Impacts of Natural Gas Infrastructure to Facilitate Biodiversity Offsetting.
• The Wildlife Trusts (2025) Impacts of Ground Mounted Solar Farms on Biodiversity.
• Cagle et al. (2023) Standardized Metrics to Quantify Solar Energy-Land Relationships.

… And current #funding also supports low-yielding but land-intensive #organic farming—without it, some farms will switch to higher-yielding conventional #farming methods.

#Agriculture #EU #CAP #Landownership #LandUse #Yields

”When our rewilding program started, many big corporations offered us huge amounts of money if we certified carbon credits. We consulted with communities. But our answer was that we don’t sell nature.”

#climateFinance #wetlands #rewetting #prevention #deterrence #rewilding #Finland #Karelia #peatland #restoration #landUse #peatlands #nature #carbon #carbonSinks #CDR #wildfires #offsets #carbonOffsets #communities

Pierce Road in the Harvard Forest is named for the Pierce Farm. 200 years ago, about a mile into the woods, once stood a farmhouse. All that remains now are the stones of the cellar hole, and, if you know where to look, the old well. The cellar is partially obscured by vegetation, but it's there as a reminder of the past land use #history of the area, when much of the surrounding forest was cleared for pasture.

#nature #naturephotography #landuse #newengland

A status on land use change worldwide:

"The area used for growing crops grew significantly from 2001 to 2024. Temporary crops (such as wheat, rice and maize) increased by 104 million ha, or 11 percent, reaching 1 081 million ha. Permanent crops (such as cocoa, oil palm and coffee) grew by 59 million ha, reaching 194 million ha in 2024, an increase of over 43 percent."

The leaders in cropland expansion were in Africa (+78 million ha) and South America (+35 million ha).
The leaders in cropland contraction were in Northern America (−26 million ha).

https://openknowledge.fao.org/items/fbfbe167-5026-4aa1-b985-2468507d5dc1

#FAO #foodSovereignty #agriculture #crops #land #landUse #LULUCF #trade #internationalTrade #cashCrops #exports

Impact Of Urbanization Driven Land Use And Land Cover Change On Ecological Environmental Quality In Rupandehi Nepal Assessed Using The Remote Sensing Ecological Index
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https://doi.org/10.1007/s44288-026-00650-y <-- shared paper
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https://kathmandupost.com/money/2026/02/18/rupandehi-s-continued-urban-sprawl-comes-at-a-cost-for-agriculture-in-the-periphery <-- shared media article
--
H/T@ Gaurav Parajulim
“[The authors] studied how the ecological quality of Nepal's Rupandehi District has changed over three decades (1993–2023), using satellite imagery and the Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) to track the health of the landscape year by year and to understand how urbanization-driven land use change has reshaped it.
What [they] found tells a nuanced story: as Butwal and Bhairahawa grew and built-up land expanded, ecological quality shifted in ways that a single number can't capture, some areas recovered, others declined, and the patterns rarely moved in a straight line…”
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“Rapid urbanization and population growth are major drivers of land use and land cover (LULC) change and can substantially alter ecological environmental quality (EEQ). This study assessed the spatiotemporal dynamics of LULC and their effect on EEQ in Rupandehi District, Nepal, over a 30-year period (1993–2023). Four ecological indicators representing greenness, wetness, dryness, and heat were derived from Landsat imagery in Google Earth Engine (GEE), and LULC was classified using a Support Vector Machine (SVM). The Remote Sensing Ecological Index (RSEI) was then constructed from these indicators using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in ArcGIS Pro, and its spatial structure was examined using global and local spatial autocorrelation. The mean RSEI followed a non-linear trajectory, rising from 0.59 in 1993 to 0.635 in 2004, declining to 0.55 in 2013, and recovering to 0.67 in 2023, indicating an overall improvement in EEQ with a temporary mid-period decline. Over the same period, built-up areas expanded substantially and agricultural land declined, whereas forest cover fluctuated but showed a slight net increase by 2023, and barren land decreased markedly. Higher EEQ was concentrated in the forested northern hills, while lower values occurred in the urban centers of Butwal and Bhairahawa, closely matching the spatial pattern of LULC change. The results indicate that ecological quality reflects the combined influence of all land cover classes rather than any single class. This study provides a transferable and reproducible workflow for long-term ecological assessment based on openly available Landsat data, with the analysis code shared in a public repository, offering practical guidance for sustainable land management and environmentally responsible urban development...”
#GIS #spatial #mapping #RemoteSensing #GIS #RSEI #EnvironmentalMonitoring #Nepal #Research #GoogleEarthEngine #ArcGIS #EcologicalQuality #spatialautocorrelation #ecology #environment #earthobservation #RemoteSensingEcologicalIndex #landscape #urbanisation #urban #development #landuse #change #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal

Adherence to an adapted Planetary Health Diet (more fruits & #legumes; less #dairy, red #meat, animal fats & added #sugar) in China was linked to reduced GHG #emissions, water use & #landuse, as well as lower risk of all-cause mortality: doi.org/10.1007/s003... #environment #health #footprint

Food consumption is responsible for over 80% of #carbon storage & biodiversity loss from #landuse in global agricultural supply chains—of which animal products drive 60% of carbon & 70% of #biodiversity losses, largely due to high land requirements of #meat. Shifts towards… doi.org/10.1038/s430... +

Pocatello breaks ground on its first community garden Friday | Local https://www.allforgardening.com/1927786/pocatello-breaks-ground-on-its-first-community-garden-friday-local/ #agriculture #CommunityGardening #FoodActivism #GardenDesign #gardening #GardeningIdaho #idaho #LandUse #NewUrbanism #parks #PlantAgriculture #UrbanAgriculture

Thousand Oaks Development Activity Report for July 2026

https://toaks.gov/corecode/storage/uber_resource/uploaded_pdfs/2026-07%20DAR_1785941996.pdf

#landuse #planning #thousandoaks #tocc

From Ireland Land Use Review latest report: “sustainable land use requires very significant change”.

Explanations by Caroline O'Doherty:
"Agriculture is the main polluter of waterways, half of which fail to meet minimum environmental standards.
"It is responsible for 38 per cent of national emissions – the largest of any sector.
"It is the number one pressure on wildlife and natural habitats, 90 per cent of which are in poor condition."

By subscription: https://www.irishtimes.com/life-style/2026/08/09/how-irelands-land-is-used-and-why-it-has-to-change/
Archived: https://archive.ph/Al4qw#selection-2163.0-2177.107

#landUse #viability #property #sustainability #water #publicHealth #biomethane #tillage #forestry #Ireland #emissions #agriculture #footprint #GHG #methane #globalHeating #agribusiness #meat #cattle #climateChange #dairy

New publication: Digital twins as a tool for #ecosystem research. #digitaltwins #biodiversity #landuse #climatechange
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2026.04.016

#SanfordME City Council extends #DatacenterMoratorium 180 days amid resident concerns

by WGME Staff
Tue, August 4, 2026

SANFORD (WGME) -- "Sanford city councilors have voted to extend the city's moratorium on new #datacenters for another 180 days.

"The previous moratorium was approved in May and was set to expire.

"The extension comes as a developer proposes building a 1,000-acre data center along the #MousamRiver.

"City leaders and residents have raised concerns about potential impacts on #WaterQuality, #LandUse, #ElectricityDemand and other #Environmental issues.

" 'We have the chance to protect the #community, #wildlife and the legacy of the Mousam River, not diminish its value by allowing harmful projects of this scale to be built along the river,' said Eve Dumont-Wilson, who opposes the project."

https://wgme.com/news/local/sanford-city-council-extends-data-center-moratorium-180-days-amid-resident-concerns

#MainePol #MaineResists #SandfordResists #ResistDataCenters #Datacentres #DatacentreMoratorium

#Google, through its related company #Verrus, tips its hand despite Gov. Tina Kotek's order canceling the sale of one previously secret parcel and Salem's proposed data-center moratorium.

On July 31, Verrus filed a land-use application involving three nearby properties.

Map I created:
https://salemdata.net/CityOfSalem/verrus/img/AssessorMap_Verrus_v1.svg

#DataCenter #DataCenters #SalemOR #LandUse #Oregon

Busy Beavers - The Turbidity Signature Of Ecosystem Engineers At Work
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https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70661 <-- shared paper
--
H/T @alan Puttock
“Beavers are the quintessential ecosystem engineers. In slow-flowing streams, they create complex wetlands with ponds by building dams and canals that can positively impact biodiversity, hydrology and water quality. These activities can interchangeably capture or release sediment along the watercourse. To date this has not been quantified at the resolution of rainfall events or beaver activity. This study used 15-min frequency, sustained monitoring upstream and downstream of a newly establishing beaver wetland to measure episodic changes in water turbidity at an event resolution. Monitoring showed no significant differences between upstream and downstream turbidity over 160 days when the first pair of beavers, known not to be building dams or canals, were resident. Shortly after introduction of another beaver pair, however, dam building, burrows and canal excavations were quickly observed, resulting in the creation of a complex beaver wetland between 2021 and 2024. Monitoring over 375 days during this period showed significant differences. Downstream turbidity was significantly higher overall than upstream: 13.1 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) compared to 4.2 NTU. Stochastic spikes in downstream turbidity during the study period not recorded upstream were associated with dam building and burrowing. Overall, there was no significant difference in turbidity loads, which was at least partially explained by a reduction in discharge downstream, particularly in higher flows, during the dam building period. This demonstrates a complex system with the trapping of influent sediment, the storing of water and the periodic release of beaver wetland sediment leading to net balance in loads. These results help provide context for other studies which have used temporally discrete sampling campaigns rather than continuous high-frequency monitoring. They provide a unique insight into the downstream impacts of a rapidly developing beaver wetland over its first three and a half years in a landscape that hasn't had beavers for over 400 years…"
#hydromorphic #water #hydrology #dam #beaverdam #waterquality #biodiversity #ecology #benefits #NatureBasedSolutions #Wetlands #Ecology #Biodiversity #EnvironmentalScience #Wildlife #Ecosystem #bioviversity #conservation #restoration #landscaperecovery #floodmanagement #FloodMitigation #flooding #energy #floodrisk #sustainability #wetlands #hydrography #dams #impoundment #deadwood #waterresources #landscapeengineer #benefits #vegetation #ecology #ecosystem #riversystemsstabilisation #naturalwaterregulation #resilience #valleysreborn #fisheries #invertebrates #extremeweather #floodflows #sediment #baseflow #drought #landmanagement #naturalsystems #landuse #monitoring #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal

#Mining sub-Saharan Africa is expanding rapidly. This poses a key threat to tropical forests.

"For every hectare of direct deforestation due to the mine footprint, mining triggers, on average, 34 hectares of additional offsite loss within five years through ancillary activities, including agriculture and settlements. Mines extracting cobalt and copper—key energy transition minerals—caused the highest amount of additional deforestation."

Morton et al. (2026). "Mining triggers extensive additional deforestation in sub-Saharan Africa" https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10551-2 🧩 🧵

#extraction #landscape #pollution #cobalt #copper #gold #climateChange #rivers #deforestation #soil #carbon #causality #land #footprint #forests #landLoss #landUse #Africa #Congo #DRC #Centrafrique #Zambia #ZA #SouthAfrica

Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley recommends requiring new data centers to cover their eventual decommissioning costs. That makes absolute sense: taxpayers should not inherit the cost of dismantling abandoned industrial infrastructure.

Video:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbOMvv0jlAt/

Provision text:
https://salemdata.net/CityOfSalem/other/BradfordCounty_Decommissioning_Provision_Corrected.txt

#DataCenter #DataCenters #Decommissioning #TaxpayerProtection #LocalGovernment #PublicPolicy #LandUse #EnergyPolicy #Accountability #SalemOR

#Livestock contributes substantially to GHG #emissions, #landuse change & #biodiversity pressures. Impacts are often obscured by global #supplychains. Demand within producer countries and demand from consumer countries in the Global North share responsibility: doi.org/10.1016/j.jc... #trade

Redirecting

The Growing Threat of Flooding on Transportation Infrastructure Across Texas Through 2100
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https://doi.org/10.1029/2026EF008207 <--shared paper
--
H/T @Rakibul Ahasan
“[The researchers] modeled flood susceptibility across Texas at 30 m resolution and projected how it shifts through 2100. The headline is not just that flood risk grows, but that it moves, into places current planning and regulatory maps are not watching. The July 2025 Kerrville flooding sat squarely inside the kind of inland hazard expansion this model projects.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
● 95% of new flood exposure by 2100 is inland, away from the coast, shifting the resilience problem into interior river basins that planning has historically deprioritized.
● Where [they] benchmarked against FEMA's National Flood Hazard Layer, the model flags substantial hidden risk in rapidly urbanizing peri-urban areas, most notably in Greater Houston.
● Climate change alone expands the flood-susceptible footprint by 10–12% by 2100, before any new road or land-use development, so this is a conservative floor, not a ceiling.
● Half the state's roads and rail and 80% of its bridges already sit in flood-susceptible zones today.
● [They] accounted for both factor-importance and spatial-scale uncertainty, using a Monte Carlo weight-perturbation ensemble and multiscale analysis across nested neighborhoods.
The practical takeaway: this is a statewide screening layer, not a replacement for site-level hydraulic studies. It shows planners and policymakers where the gap between today's protection and tomorrow's risk is widest, and where unmapped peri-urban growth is walking into exposure that regulatory maps still call safe…”
#water #hydrology #hydrography #extremeweather #flood #flooding #Texas #TX #USA #transportation #infrastructure #humanimpacts #risk #hazard #cost #economics #floodsusceptibility #GIS #spatial #mapping #raster #elevation #modeling #model #spatialanalysis #planning #regulation #warning #Kerrville #hazardmapping #floodexposure #inland #coast #urban #urbanisation #development #growth #Houston #lowlying #climatechange #landuse #development #geostatstics #MonteCarlo #regionalscreening #naturalhazard #infrastructureresilience #floodmapping #hydrogeomorphology #geomorphometry #aginginfrastructure

On The Use Of Rainfall Time Series For Regional Landslide Prediction By Means Of Functional Regression
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2026.108860 <-- shared paper
--
#rainfallinduced #landslide #Functionalregression #Japan #Earlywarningsystem #Spacetimeprediction #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #massmovement #engineeringgeology #geomorphology #hydrogeomorphology #geomorphometry #remotesensing #geostatistics #model #modeling #mechanics #rainfall #threshold #precipitation #water #hydrology #risk #hazard #hazardassessment #terrain #landscape #landform #landuse #geology #soil #lithology #functionalGeneralizedAdditiveModel #FGAM #prediction #casestudy #AI #LLM

The #EnvironmentalCost of #ArtificialIntelligence: #Carbon, #Water, and #LandFootprints

#AI’s rapid growth drives huge energy, water, and land use, raising environmental and equity challenges across its global infrastructure.

Date Published 3 Jun 2026

UNU-INWEH Report: Aczel, M., Chamanara, S., Matin, M., Farsi, A., Marwala, T., Madani, K. (2026).

"This report, Environmental Cost of Artificial Intelligence: Carbon, Water and Land Footprints, by the #UnitedNationsUniversity Institute for Water, Environment and Health ( #UNU - #INWEH ) on its 30th anniversary, examines one of the most underexplored consequences of AI’s rapid expansion: the environmental footprints of the energy required to power it. As artificial intelligence becomes embedded in economies, public services, research, communication, and everyday life, it depends on a growing physical infrastructure of #datacenters, advanced #chips, #CoolingSystems, #ElectricityGrids, #WaterResources, land, and #CriticalMineral supply chains. The report shows that AI is not only a digital technology, but also a material system with measurable #EnvironmentalCosts.

"The report moves beyond a carbon-only lens by quantifying the carbon, water, and land footprints associated with the electricity used to train, deploy, and operate AI systems at scale. Its central finding is that AI’s environmental costs depend not only on how much electricity is used, but also on where that electricity is generated and which energy sources power it. Every kilowatt-hour used by AI carries carbon, water, and land implications, and these footprints do not always move in the same direction: low-carbon electricity is not automatically low-water or low-land. The report also shows that AI’s footprint is shaped by both major infrastructure trends, including the rapid growth of data centers, and everyday use patterns, including model choice, output length, modality, and the growing use of text, image, and video generation.

"Importantly, the report frames AI’s environmental footprint as a governance and justice challenge, not only a technical problem. The benefits of AI often flow across borders and sectors, while the environmental burdens of data center siting, electricity demand, water withdrawals, #LandUse, MineralExtraction, and #EWaste can be concentrated in specific communities and regions. To address these risks, the report calls for a responsible AI ecosystem grounded in transparency, efficiency by design, equity and #EnvironmentalJustice, lifecycle responsibility, global cooperation, and sustainable use. By making AI’s carbon, water, and land footprints visible and comparable, the report provides a practical basis for integrating AI into energy, climate, water, and land-use planning, ensuring that innovation advances without shifting environmental costs onto vulnerable communities."

Download PDF:
https://unu.edu/inweh/collection/environmental-cost-of-AIs-Enrgy-Use-Carbon-water-and-land-footprints

#AIBoom #Electricity #Hyperscale #BigTech #BigData #CarbonFootprint #EnvironmentalRacism #EnvironmentalDegradation #NoisePollution #LightPollution #WaterIsLife #AIAgents #BotTraffic #GreenSpaces #Farmland #Prairies #Woodland #TechGiants #ProtectNature #NoDatacenters #EnergyConsumption #USPol #WorldPol #Datacentres
#DatacenterMoratoriums

#NoNaturalDisasters [UN]
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https://www.undrr.org/our-impact/campaigns/no-natural-disasters | https://www.nonaturaldisasters.com/ <-- shared technical articles
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#Resilience #ClimateAction #Governance #risk #hazard #riskassessment #naturalhazard #disaster #humanimpacts #engineeringgeology #NoNaturalDisasters #natural #nature #earthquake #storm #flood #flooding #tsunami #volcano #desertification #wildfire #fires #publicsafety #planning #policy #preparedness #ISO31000 #monitoring #buildingcodes #engineering #landuse #earlywarning #humanmaderisk #exposure #vulnerability #socioeconomic #ecosystems #habitat #livelihoods #farming #infrastructure #buildings #structures #industrial #cost #recovery #economics #homes #extremeweather #hurricane #tornado #resilience #sustainability #poverty #assessment #UNDRR #UN #riskreduction
@United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction

Detecting Land Use And Land Cover Changes And Quantifying Soil Erosion And Sediment Export Using GIS And Remote Sensing In The GERD Catchment, Ethiopia
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iswcr.2026.100657 <-- shared paper
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https://infonile.org/en/2023/05/battling-for-survival-along-the-warming-source-of-the-blue-nile/ <-- shared technical media article
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https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-65241-7_4 <-- shared technical book chapter
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https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8121020 <-- shared 2016 paper
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#landuse #landcover #RUSLE #model #soil #erosion #sedimentation #GERD #catchment #NorthAfrica #Ethiopia #AbbayBasin #sustainability #landmanagement #agriculture #farmland #foodsecurity #water #hydrogology #reservior #watermanagement #watersecurity #waterresources #catchment #GrandEthiopianRenaissanceDam #BlueNile #hydrography #impoundment #GIS #spatial #mapping #remotesensing #earthobservation #thematic #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #landsat #elevation #DEM #CHIRPS #rainfall #precipitation #LULC #AI #forest #grazing #grassland #field #crops #cropland #waterbodies #urban #biophysical #risk #hazard #mitigation #soilquality

Hiking with Hoodoos: New Mexico’s Tent Rocks

“Is it any wonder that the Cochiti people believe Tent Rocks is a living landscape, as their mere presence changes by the moment based on the trajectory of the sun, the angularity of light and shadows, variabilities in weather conditions, or the demeanor of clouds passing overhead.”

– panethos.wordpress.com

We had our first opportunity to visit magical Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument located between Albuquerque and Santa Fe on April 16. It is hard to describe the surreal beauty of this national monument that includes a magnificent slot canyon, tent-shaped rock formations that are jaw-dropping in their multi-faceted geological history, and other spectacular natural features dotting this post-volcanic landscape.

The national monument is situated within the Cochiti Pueblo.

“For the Pueblo de Cochiti, Kasha-Katuwe is a living cultural landscape. The cliffs, mesas, and canyons are connected to oral histories, traditional teachings, and long-standing relationships between the people and the land. These places have served as areas for travel, observation, learning, and spiritual reflection across generations. Respect for the land is central to Pueblo values, and care for Kasha-Katuwe reflects responsibilities passed down through families and community leadership.” – Cochiti.org

Due to the rare and delicate geological structure of the formations, as well as their spiritual importance to the Cochiti people, Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument has a limited operating schedule that requires prior reservations and prepaid fees for visitors to traverse these amazing formations.

A national recreation trail leads both hikers and sightseers through a meandering slot canyon and up a steep incline past the tapered hoodoos to a mesa summit. A second trail passes a once-occupied shelter cave and a gathering of hoodoos that resemble a quiet campground amongst the juniper trees or Native American teepee village from afar. A separate scenic overlook is located at the northwest corner of the monument.

Throughout this post are a series of photographs that depict the amazing beauty of Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument.

Peace!

Deforestation: Why a "no-risk" category would jeopardize the EUDR’s effectiveness and Why the current regulation is already fit for purpose: www.wri.org/insights/no-...

#carbon #deforestation #timber #beef #cattle #palmOil #oilPalm #emissions #landUse #agriculture #rubber

Why a 'No-Risk' Category Would...

Deforestation: Why a "no-risk" category would jeopardize the EUDR’s effectiveness and why the current regulation is already fit for purpose: https://www.wri.org/insights/no-risk-category-would-weaken-eudr

#carbon #deforestation #timber #beef #cattle #palmOil #oilPalm #emissions #landUse #agriculture #rubber

What Shapes Earthquake Risk In Bangladesh? Geospatial Insights From Physical And Social Factors Using A Spatial Meta-Regression Approach
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https://doi.org/10.1007/s41748-026-01089-4 <-- shared paper
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#EarthquakeRisk #GIS #Bangladesh #DisasterManagement #SEAsia #GIS #spatial #mapping #risk #hazard #earthquake #naturalhazard #urban #rural #infrastructure #publicsafety #model #modeling #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #geomorphology #geology #tectonics #social #cultural #demographics #fault #faulting #factoranalysis #seismichazard #model #modeling #socioeconomics #geophysics #remotesensing #geostatistics #landuse #framework #magnitude #engineering #buildingcode #mitigation #zoning #development #growth #vulnerability

Drivers Of Forest Disturbance In Southeast Asia [incl. spatial analysis]
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2026.105220 <-- shared paper 🔗
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https://github.com/shijuanchen/SEA_forest_dis <-- shared GitHub ‘data repository 🔗
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #forest #vegetation #Forestdisturbance #Forestdegradation #Deforestation #remotesensing #SoutheastAsia #Asia #tropicalforests #timeseriesanalysis #geostatistics #disturbance #clearing #planting #agriculture #earthobservation #imagery #CCDC #changedetection #landcover #landuse #change #plantation #cultivation #slashandburn #planning #mitigation #catalogue #conservation #management #landmanagement #machinelearning #imageanalysis #AI

Global Subsidence Of River Deltas
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09928-6 <-- shared paper
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H/T Wageningen University & Research
“🌊🔍 River deltas are sinking!
A new study [link above] reveals that river deltas worldwide are sinking significantly, faster than sea levels rise..."
#GIS #mapping #spatial #remotesensing #NASA #earthobservation #RiverDelta #ClimateChange #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #water #hydrology #marine #river #delta #coast #coastal #global #subsidence #groundwater #extraction #pumping #overpumping #watertable #hydrogeology #sediment #waterresources #planning #policy #landuse #landscape #hydrogeomorphology #worldwide #riverdelta #humanimpacts #ecosystems #sealevel #sealevelrise #SLR #flood #flooding #landloss #salinity #risk #hazard #salinization #vulnerable #measurements #monitoring #elevation #insar #radar #surfaceelevation #anthropogenic #urbanexpansion

Sentinel-2 Based Estimates Of Rangeland Fractional Cover And Canopy Gap Class For The Western United States
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-06160-9 <-- shared paper
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https://rangelands.app/products/rap10m/ <-- shared 10 metre Range Analysis platform overview
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[aside & totally anecdotal - I have ridden on the road in that last picture - near Sheridan, WY]
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #fedscience #fedservice #feddata #opendata #usecase #publicgood #rangeland #ecosystems #monitoring #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #US #USA #vegetation #satellite #remotesensing #earthobservation #Sentenial #Sentenial2 #canopy #fractionalcover #canopygap #landcover #landuse #grass #pinyon #juniper #opendata #raster #USWest #WesternStates #landsurface #tools #fielddata #model #modeling #BLM #USDA #statistics #geostatistics #RangelandAnalysisPlatform
@USDA @BLM

Diversion Channels vs. Climate Change: Will Five Cities’ Flood Protection Strategy Be Enough?

Many of those reading this post may recall scenes from the disastrous floods that took place along the Red River of the North in 1997, 2009, and 2011. Cities like Fargo and Grand Forks, North Dakota were severely impacted by floodwaters due to snowmelt and ice jams along that northward flowing river. Further north along the same river, in Manitoba, Winnipeg has dealt with significant flooding on multiple occasions.

Part of the problem along this particular river valley is there is very little topographical change in this area, so when river levels run high, the floodwaters spread out far and wide across the northern prairie landscape. The limited grade change also tends to slow the speed of the river’s flow, which can add to the backup.

To address these costly and dangerous flooding problems along the Red River of the North, both Winnipeg and Grand Forks have developed enormous flood diversion channels around their urban area. Meanwhile, Fargo is close to completing its diversion channel. These three diversion systems are discussed below followed by other diversion channel programs established in Wichita, Kansas and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Red River Floodway – Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada = 29 mile diversion channel

• Completed in 1968 for $63 million and enlargement completed in 2010 for $665 million
• Designated a National Historic Site in 2000
• Capacity of 140,000 cubic feet per second
• 2.7 billion cubic feet of Earth moved (more than the Suez Canal)

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English Coulee Diversion Channel – Grand Forks, ND, USA = 13 mile diversion channel for English Coulee and 8 miles of flood walls/levees along the Red River of the North

• The diversion channel for English Coulee bypassing Grand Forks was completed in 1990. Unfortunately, increasing the height of flood walls and levees was not completed until 2007.
• Total project cost was $409 million including the flood walls and levees on the Red River of the North.
• Flood protection was raised from 50 feet to 60 feet.
• Flood/stormwaters can be also pumped to the diversion channel from the city — up to 112,000 gallons per minute (= 250 cubic feet per second).
• Twenty miles of greenways trails

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Fargo-Moorhead Area Diversion Project – Fargo, ND/Moorhead, MN, USA = 30 mile diversion channel and 22 mile earthen embankment at the southern end of the complex

• To be completed in 2027 for $3.2 billion
• The Red River has reached flood stage in Fargo 60 times since 1902, including every single year between 1993 and 2011.
• Designed to withstand a 100-year flood and provide fightable protection against a 500-year flood.
• Capacity of 20,000 cubic feet per second.
• Other features will include levees, flood walls, stormwater lift stations, road improvements including raising grades, upstream mitigation, wetland mitigation, river restoration, a bike/walking trail, and related flood control projects in outer communities and in nearby Minnesota.

——-

Further to the south, Wichita, Kansas has faced similar issues with flooding from the Arkansas and Little Arkansas Rivers. To limit future damage to life and property in the city, an enormous flood diversion project was completed here in 1959. This diversion channel is very visible to drivers along Interstate 235 around the west side of the city.

Wichita-Valley Center Floodway – Wichita, KS, USA = 18 mile diversion channel

• Completed in 1959 for $20 million
• Includes 50 miles of connecting channels, 100 miles of levees, and 150 control structures.
• The diversion channel has a flood carrying capacity twice that of the Arkansas River itself, while the Little Arkansas River portion around the town of Valley Center has a capacity of 55,000 cubic feet per second.

——–

In an altogether different context, Albuquerque, New Mexico can also face quick and devastating floods, but not from a flat terrain. Instead, the threat here is threefold – rapid snowmelt from the abutting Sandia Mountains flowing down into the city and the valley combined with urban stormwater runoff and heavy summer monsoon-season rains (yes, we have a monsoon season here) overwhelming the natural arroyos and dry stream beds. In Albuquerque, a network of diversion channels has been developed, with two primary ones (the North and South Diversion Channels) being the largest collectors and distributors of stormwater and floodwaters from natural arroyos and human made/enhanced channels.

North Diversion Channel – Albuquerque, NM, USA = 8.7 miles

• Completed in 1969 at a cost of $20.3 million
• Capacity of 44,000 cubic feet per second ~ equivalent to a 500-year flood event
• Collects flood/storm waters from 50 square miles and discharges it into the Rio Grande
• A bicycle/pedestrian trail runs along the top of the channel for its entire length.
• Passes through the heart of the city instead of around it.

South Diversion Channel – Albuquerque, NM, USA ~ 5.5 miles

• Completed in 1972 at a cost of $8.3 million and discharges into the Rio Grande
• A bicycle/pedestrian trail runs along the top of the channel for much of its length.

——-

As these five examples show, there are viable options for protecting life, limb, and property from devastating floods in urban areas. That being said, as the Earth’s climate continues to become warmer, bringing with it heavier rainfalls and stronger storms, even these diversion channels and their associated infrastructure may become overwhelmed by future weather events.

Therefore, addressing only the after-the-fact results of storms will not protect our communities as long as climate change is allowed to continue on its current trajectory. Humankind must also address the root causes of climate change, including the impacts we create by our individual and collective actions and activities. This includes making hard choices…frankly choices that highly-developed First World countries like the United States too often avoid making.

Furthermore, when nations ignore climate reality, these five cities, let alone many others across the planet, will need to upgrade their flood defenses over and over again. In this era of climate change, such efforts will not and cannot solve the problem alone. Humanity must find the “sustainable willpower” to effectively address climate change for the long term. In the end, future generations will be grateful that we did.

Peace!

#albuquerque #cities #climateChange #diversionChannels #environment #fargo #flooding #floodplain #floods #geography #grandForks #history #infrastructure #landUse #monsoonSeason #planning #rivers #stormwater #wichita #winnipeg

My pick for “Best Planning Book” published in 2025

Now and then one comes across a book that sets new standards for excellence in print. It may be due to its content, the context, the impact of the publication on society, or a defining aspect of the book that sets it apart from others. In this particular case, Chicago Homes: A Portrait of the City’s Everyday Architecture solidly achieves at least three of the aforementioned pinnacles, with its rich and defining illustrations being beyond exemplary.

Chicago Homes by Carla Bruni and Phil Thompson succeeds in telling the history of one of America’s greatest and most-beloved cities through its housing heritage — specifically the styles and trends in housing that shaped Chicago’s residential development from a lonely outpost at the forks of the Chicago River through World War II. This contextual relationship between Chicago’s housing biography and the city’s overall urban history is tremendously informative and is filled with many interesting tidbits and anecdotes.

Too often as planners, we get tied up in the scale of scope of large projects, whether they be towering skyscrapers, enormous transportation projects, placid and serene parks, or large commercial and industrial developments. Meanwhile, it is the individual house, the home, a dwelling unit, or an apartment that in unison form the largest proportion of the communities we serve. As a result, it is their relationship to the overall city that can largely shape one’s sense of place.

” Chicago was built on change. we’re still culturally the same old city, and our homes are still extensions of who were are, individually and collectively. Architecture is politics. Architecture is whimsy. Architecture is people.”

Source: “Chicago Homes,” page 298.

The icing on the cake to Chicago Homes is the stunningly detailed and gorgeous illustrations provided throughout the book showing the progression of architectural trends, styles, and decorative features that developed over time for residential dwellings throughout the city. The amazing illustrations prepared by Mr. Thompson’s Wonder City Studio alone could be framed and sold in galleries across the country they are so beautiful.

As the book addresses Chicago’s housing history up to and including World War II, more recent trends (both good and bad) are not incorporated in the book except with brief references in the epilogue and elsewhere. This aspect in no way detracts from the book and would make for a fascinating sequel publication in the future.

This retired planner strongly recommends this book, and not only to existing, former, or wannabe Chicagoans and architecture geeks. For Chicago Homes transcends both geography and genre in a manner that should captivate most any reader with its fascinating content, its broadly appealing context, and its truly defining illustrations.

Peace!

#apartments #art #CarlaBruni #Chicago #ChicagoHomes #cities #dwellings #geography #historicPreservation #history #homes #housing #illustrations #landUse #neighborhoods #PhilThompson #planning #residences #travel #WonderCityStudio

Thirty Years Of The U.S. National Land Cover Database [NLCD] - Impacts And Future Direction
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https://doi.org/10.14358/PERS.25-00121R2 <-- shared paper
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https://www.usgs.gov/centers/eros/science/annual-national-land-cover-database <-- shared #USGS Annual National Land Cover Database (open data)
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https://www.usgs.gov/centers/eros/science/annual-national-land-cover-database <-- get the open NLCD data
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #history #continuity #improvement #LandCover #Landuse #change #Landsat #NLCD #NationalLandCoverDatabase #earthobservation #remotesensing #landchange #monitoring #fedscience #publicgood #fedopendata #opendata #history #fedservice #MRLCC #USA #download #impervious #surface #forestcanopy #mosaics #accuracy #deeplearning #AI #research #landmanagement #agriculture #water #hydrology #cropland #biodiversity #conservation #urban #planning #publichealth #naturalhazard #assesment #risk #hazard #mitigation #national #nation #multiple #usecase
#USGS | #EROS

A New Geodatabase Of Fuel Treatments Across Federal Lands In The USA
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05859-z <-- shared paper
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https://nft.garphub.org/ <-- National Fuels Treatments Initiative (NFT) page
--
“The National Fuels Treatments Initiative (NFT) is a collaborative, scalable data collection effort which aims to build a standardized map of nationwide fuels treatment locations occurring across all land ownership types…”
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#NationalFuelsTreatmentsInitiative #NFT #datacollection #fedscience #fedservice #opendata #fire #fuel #fedopendata #wildfire #bushfire #risk #hazard #damage #infrastructure #GIS #spatial #map #mapping #economics #publicgood #landownership #federalland #mitigation #technical #database #naturalhazard #infrastructure #residential #transportation #accessibility #portal #online #coordination #teatment #WildfireInteragencyGeodatabase #TWIG #nation #nationwide #management #landuse #landcover #policy #research #spatialdata
@DOI @USFS @USGS

A scenic excursion through Iowa’s Loess Hills

Tranquil serenity as seen from the hill town of Castana, Iowa

Winding up and winding down through farmlands, villages and small towns. The 220 mile long Loess Hills National Scenic Byway is pleasant road trip along the western ridges of Iowa between Sioux City and the Missouri border.

Windmill of time

One of a few places on the planet where Loess Hill geography occurs, this scenic corridor is a trip through time, both geological and historical. The photos accompanying this text are just a few of those taken while traversing this lovely byway last week.

“Formed by deposits of very fin, windblown soil at the end of the last ice ages, there are not your average hills.”

Source: https://www.visitloesshills.org

With so many sites and vistas along the byway, it would take multiple days or trips to visit them all. In the half-day we spent there, we hardly scratched the surface. There are a number of loop road and side-trip options that can take the adventuresome beyond the byway’s two-lanes of pavement into adjoining/nearby parklands, forests, grasslands, and other natural areas.

Roadside remnants

——-

So, if you are tired interstate highways, high speeds, and heavy traffic, consider a dose of Iowa tranquility and grace along the serene Loess Hills National Scenic Byway. Additional images from our excursion are provided below. Peace!

Over hill and over dale

——-

Mother Nature awaits!

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Keepsakes of a playful past in Canstana, Iowa

——-

History abounds

——-

Missouri River Valley – Nebraska in the distance

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Former Ford dealership

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Honor and remembrance

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#agriculture #environment #Farming #fun #geography #geology #hiking #history #Iowa #landUse #LoessHills #nature #scenicByways #smallTowns #tourism #travel #vistas

Spectrum Of The Lakes - Using Satellite Remote Sensing To Unveil Water Color In Minnesota's Sentinel Lakes For Water Quality Monitoring
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https://doi.org/10.1080/20442041.2025.2509528 <-- shared paper
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https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/fisheries/slice/index.html <-- shared DNR Sentinel Lakes monitoring programs
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#Satellite #RemoteSensing #hydrology #water #WaterColour #WaterQuality #Chromaticity #SentinelLakes #ecoregion #Minnesota #earthobservation #GIS #spatial #mapping #MidWest #US #waterresources #ecology #ecosystems #watersecurity #Landsat #OLI #surface #lake #waterbody #reflectance #tropic #wavelength #vegetation #catchments #vegetation #MDVW #forests #agriculture #farming #landuse #landcover #management #monitoring #protection

Geospatial Services / Gateway – USDA NRCS [open data]
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https://gdg.sc.egov.usda.gov/ <-- shared link to USDA NRCS Geospatial Data Gateway
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #portal #download #spatialdata #opendata #remotesensing #earthobservation #NRCS #ISDA #FSA #FarmServiceAgenct #RuralDevelopment #agriculture #fedservice #fedscience #farming #farmers #soil #SSURGO #environmental #naturalresources #NaturalResourcesConservationService #TIGER #precipitation #temperature #conservation #easement #LiDAR #elevation #names #geography #geology #governmentunits #boundaries #watershed #hydrology #water #WBD #HUC #topo #imagery #roads #transportation #soils #SSURGO #USA #US #landcover #landuse #NLCD

A New Tool To Characterise The Socio-Environmental Dimensions Of Urban Rivers: Urban River Socio-Environmental Index
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2025.105388 <-- shared paper
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #EnvironmentalEvaluation #SocioEcosystem #SocialConnectivity #UrbanRiver #Indicators #RiverRestoration #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #water #hydrology #urban #stream #ecosystem #cities #residents #community #nature #humanimpacts #artifical #engineered #URBS #watershed #drainage #management #restoration #geomorphology #hydrogeomorphology #ecology #urbansprawl #interdisciplinary #biophysical #social #community #France #Paris #MorbrasRiver #macroinvertebrates #riparian #vegetation #reaches #typology #landscape #landuse #landcover #variety #blandscaping

Landslide Susceptibility Assessment In The Marin Khola Watershed Of The Sub Himalaya, Central Nepal
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https://doi.org/10.3126/jist.v30i1.76264 <-- shared paper
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#GIS #spatial #mapping #geology #engineeringgeology #massmovement #landslides #Nepal #susceptibility #MarinKhola #watershed #InfoVal #Siwaliks #Himalayas #risk #hazard #cost #infrastructure #publicsafety #lossoflife #propertydamage #damage #geomorphology #water #hydrology #geomorphometry #casestudies #spatialanalysis #water #hydrology #factors #topography #geology #soil #landuse #landcover #model #modeling #accuracy