Skip to main content

Steven W. Running

The TopoWx ("Topography Weather") gridded dataset contains historical 30-arcsec resolution (~800-m) interpolations of minimum and maximum topoclimatic air temperature for the conterminous U.S. Using both DEM-based variables and MODIS land skin temperature as predictors of air temperature, interpolation procedures include moving window regression kriging and geographically weighted regression. This temperature set was created independently of the NCCWSC funded project, "Can Camouflage Keep up with Climate Change? Connecting Downscaled Climate Models to Adaptation for a Key Forest Species", but was in part motivated by the project.
Abstract (from http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JAMC-D-15-0276.1): Remotely sensed land skin temperature (LST) is increasingly being used to improve gridded interpolations of near-surface air temperature. The appeal of LST as a spatial predictor of air temperature rests in the fact that it is an observation available at spatial resolutions fine enough to capture topoclimatic and biophysical variations. However, it remains unclear if LST improves air temperature interpolations over what can already be obtained with simpler terrain-based predictor variables. Here, the relationship between LST and air temperature is evaluated across the conterminous United States (CONUS). It is found that there are significant...
Abstract (from http://www.nature.com/articles/srep15956): Recent studies showed that anomalous dry conditions and limited moisture supply roughly between 1998 and 2008, especially in the Southern Hemisphere, led to reduced vegetation productivity and ceased growth in land evapotranspiration (ET). However, natural variability of Earth’s climate system can degrade capabilities for identifying climate trends. Here we produced a long-term (1982–2013) remote sensing based land ET record and investigated multidecadal changes in global ET and underlying causes. The ET record shows a significant upward global trend of 0.88 mm yr−2 ( P < 0.001) over the 32-year period, mainly driven by vegetation greening (0.018% per year;...
ScienceBase brings together the best information it can find about USGS researchers and offices to show connections to publications, projects, and data. We are still working to improve this process and information is by no means complete. If you don't see everything you know is associated with you, a colleague, or your office, please be patient while we work to connect the dots. Feel free to contact sciencebase@usgs.gov.