United States Geological Survey
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The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, and the natural hazards that threaten it. The organization has four major science disciplines, concerning biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility.
A bureau of the United States Department of the Interior, it is that department's sole scientific agency. The USGS employs approximately 10,000 people and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia, with major offices in Denver, Colorado, and Menlo Park, California.
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History
Prompted by a report from the National Academy of Sciences the USGS was created by an act of congress on March 3, 1879. It was charged with the "classification of the public lands, and examination of the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain." This task was driven by the need to inventory the vast lands added to the United States by the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
Clarence King, the first director of USGS, assembled the new organization from disparate regional survey agencies. After a short tenure, King was succeeded in the director's chair by John Wesley Powell.
Mission
The USGS is the primary civilian mapping agency in the United States, and is best known for its 1:24,000 scale, 7.5-minute quadrangle topographic maps. Their recent program, the National Map is an attempt to be the be-all end-all of online mapping services. The USGS also has an invigorating Business Partners program through which they encourage the reselling of their maps so that the public can have quicker, easier access to information. Many sites such as TopoZone have capitalized on this program to provide the web with the best mapping services possible in conjunction with the USGS.
The USGS Earthquake Hazards Program monitors earthquake activity worldwide. The National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) in Golden, Colorado on the campus of the Colorado School of Mines detects the location and magnitude of global [earthquakes]. The USGS also runs or supports several regional monitoring networks in the U.S. under the umbrellas of the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS). The USGS informs authorities, emergency responders, the media, and the public, both domestic and worldwide, about significant earthquakes. It also maintains long-term archives of earthquake data for scientific and engineering research. It also conducts and supports research in long-term seismic hazard.
The USGS National Geomagnetism Program monitors the magnetic field at magnetic observatories and distributes magnetometer data in real time.
Since 1962, it has been involved in global, lunar and planetary exploration and mapping.
"The mission of the [USGS] National Wildlife Health Center is to serve the nation and its natural resources by providing sound science and technical support, and to disseminate information to promote science-based decisions affecting wildlife and ecosystem health. The NWHC provides information, technical assistance, research, education, and leadership on national and international wildlife health issues." [1] It is the agency primarily responsible for surveillance of wild animal H5N1 avian flu outbreaks in the United States.
As of 2005, the agency is working to create a National Volcano Early Warning System by improving the instrumentation monitoring the 169 volcanoes in U.S. territory and by establishing methods for measuring the relative threats posed at each site.
The motto of the USGS is "science for a changing world."
The USGS also runs 17 research centers in the United States, including the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center.
See also
- Geographic Names Information System
- Volcano Disaster Assistance Program
- Timeline of environmental events
- Maps of the United States
External links
- USGS official site
- USGS Circular 1050 (History of the USGS)
- USGS Geomagnetism Program
- Current Earthquake Information
- Subscribe to automated earthquake messages
- Volcano Information
- Major USGS Discipline sites: Water, Geology, Geography, Biology
- TerraServer-USA and TopoZone host USGS topographic maps (and aerial photos on TerraServer-USA); Maptech hosts historical USGS topos in the northeast U.S.bg:Геологически топографски институт на Съединените американски щати
de:US Geological Survey et:Ameerika Ühendriikide Geoloogiateenistus es:United States Geological Survey fr:United States Geological Survey id:United States Geological Survey it:United States Geological Survey nl:United States Geological Survey ja:米国地質研究所 pt:United States Geological Survey sv:USGS