GLOBE News
South Dakota Discovery Center Uses Land Cover Protocol to Build Watershed Resilience
The South Dakota Discovery Center is using the GLOBE Observer Land Cover protocol as part of its watershed information and outreach efforts. The project is used to collect information on shorelines and riparian areas that will help watershed managers understand the hydrology over time.
The South Dakota Discovery is part of the Citizen Science, Civics and Resilient Communities, an environmental literacy project which is funded by NOAA and coordinated by the Museum of Science (Boston). This project looks to build community resilience in the face of floods, drought, extreme precipitation and heat, all caused by climate change.
Anne Lewis, South Dakota GLOBE Partner and director of the state’s watershed information and education program, notes that both floods and droughts are a challenge in South Dakota which historically has very variable hydrology. Climate change is expected to amplify this tendency and having an accessible historical data set of images through the GLOBE Observer Land Cover data will help watershed managers understand water quantity and water quality issues.
You can learn more about this effort at https://scistarter.org/noaa-SouthDakotaDiscoveryCenter
