Kansas and Landsat

Fact Sheet 2022-3057
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Abstract

Kansas seems synonymous with agriculture, and rightly so—87 percent of Kansas land is devoted to it. As a key contributor to the State’s economy, agriculture makes Kansas one of the top producers of wheat, grain sorghum, and cattle in the country, but the State at the geographic center of the conterminous United States contains much more than fields and pastures.

Deciduous woodlands sprawl throughout the east. Tallgrass prairie—the only extensive stand remaining in the country—covers the east-central Flint Hills with more than 500 species of plants, many of them wildflowers, including the Sunflower State’s nickname inspiration. Near the center of Kansas, Cheyenne Bottoms—the largest marsh in the interior United States at 41,000 acres—welcomes migrating birds, including the endangered Grus americana (Linnaeus, 1758; whooping crane), by the thousands in the spring and fall. To the south, the inland saltwater marshes of Quivira National Wildlife Refuge attract many more.

Farther west, chalk outcroppings like Castle Rock and Monument Rocks rise above the landscape as fossil-bearing remnants of a sea floor from millions of years ago. Oil and natural gas fields exist throughout the State. After two University of Kansas professors discovered helium in a sample from one natural gas well in 1905, Kansas became a substantial supplier. The Landsat Program provides tools for monitoring and managing our conservation lands and their many resources. Here are several ways Landsat helps Kansas.

Suggested Citation

U.S. Geological Survey, 2022, Kansas and Landsat: U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 2022–3057, 2 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20223057.

ISSN: 2327-6932 (online)

ISSN: 2327-6916 (print)

Study Area

Table of Contents

  • Observing Vegetation and Crops
  • Monitoring Water Use
  • Tracking Forest Trends
  • Landsat—Critical Information Infrastructure for the Nation
  • References Cited
Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Kansas and Landsat
Series title Fact Sheet
Series number 2022-3057
DOI 10.3133/fs20223057
Year Published 2022
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
Description 2 p.
Country United States
State Kansas
Online Only (Y/N) N
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details