Land Use Land Cover

AGS provides consulting services and applications of remote sensing, GIS and biogeochemical models for assessing the potential impacts associated with alteration of natural and managed systems. AGS has developed tools for quantifying the impacts of land use change and urban growth on both natural and managed lands. AGS projects have explored various aspects of land use and land change including analyses of historic changes and development of agricultural lands, impacts of land use change on greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient runoff and the impacts of urban sprawl on biophysical, transportation, economic and demographic conditions.

Land use land cover (LULC) change is one of the most significant results of human activities. LULC change is central to many of our projects and covers a wide range of issues and concepts. At the core of LULC change are understanding how our activities transform the land surface and what are the impacts of those alterations. In order to address these core issues we need precise measurements and methodologies to assess LULC change and understand coupled natural-human systems. At AGS we use an interdisciplinary approach to quantify the magnitude and extent of LULC change. This includes employing biogeochemical models, remote sensing and geospatial technologies, and climate models. We link these advanced methodologies and tools with traditional social science efforts and biophysical metrics. Recent and current projects include:

• Measuring deforestation
• Integrating Geospatial and Web-Based Technologies to Improve Land Use Planning in Coastal New Hampshire
• Assessing the impacts of LULC change on wetlands and aquatic health
• Climate-land interactions