U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2012–3078

June 2012

Preserving Science for the Ages—USGS Data Rescue

Introduction

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is a steward for 

over 130 years of rich, diverse natural science and information 

resources. We document one-of-a-kind observations of natural phenomena and cultural impacts on our changing world. 

In order for society to deal with national and global trends, 

the USGS must enable access and use of legacy, inaccessible 

information by including these data in our digital archives and 

databases.

The USGS has conducted scientific assessments on the 

quality and quantity of the Nation’s water resources, provided 

access to geospatial and natural resource data, and conducted 

multi-purpose natural science studies. All of these have generated records that need to be accessible and integrated in order to 

be examined for new information and interpretations that were 

never intended by the original collector.

The Federal Records Act of 1950 mandates that the USGS 

preserve Federal records containing evidence of the agency’s 

organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, and 

essential transactions. At the USGS, the goal of Open Government1

 is to improve and increase access to scientific information. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the USGS to preserve, 

make available, and provide accountability for the data that it 

creates from our scientific projects.

Data Rescue activities provide access to valuable and 

critical data assets and make the USGS’s rich contributions 

available for researchers in the U.S. and international science 

communities. Since its inception in late Fiscal Year (FY) 2006, 

the Data Rescue Program has received more than 300 requests 

from scientists across the USGS totaling over 15 million dollars. Through FY 2011, the program has been able to provide 

assistance of 1.3 million dollars, or roughly 9 percent of the 

known need. The costs to rescue data has varied from 3,000 dollars to 65,000 dollars per project. Many USGS science records 

have permanent or long-term value to the Nation and the world 

on the basis of the substantial impact the scientific investigations have had on public policies or decisions and on the basis 

of datasets that are one-of-a-kind collections—information that 

represents observations and events that will never be repeated.

1

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/

TransparencyandOpenGovernment/

A few examples from the Data Rescue Program illustrate 

USGS legacy products that have been preserved and are now 

more widely accessible, serving scientific needs today and 

available for the future.

Historical Images of Alaskan Volcanoes

Using Data Rescue funds, the Alaska Volcano Observatory has scanned and digitally archived over 6,000 35 millimeter slides and prints from the library and files of the USGS, 

the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute, the 

Alaska Division of Geological and Geophysical Surveys, and 

other geoscientific organizations. About 1,000 images have been 

uploaded to public image databases, making them accessible to 

the public and the research community. These images provide 

an invaluable time line of conditions at Alaskan volcanoes and 

include views of dynamic glacial and volcanic landscapes over 

multiple decades. To access a sampling of these images, please 

visit the Alaska Volcano Observatory Web site image database 

at http://www.avo.alaska.edu/images/.

Aerial view of Snowy Mountain Dome, Katmai National Park and 

Preserve, photographed by USGS volcanologist Wes Hildreth. 

Before this rescue project, the Alaska Volcano Observatory 

database featured few historical images of this volcano. Scientists 

can now compare this image with modern and future views to 

assess changes in the landscape as a result of eruptions or 

changing climate.
Diagnostic Records for Wildlife Disease

The USGS National Wildlife Health Center provides a 

national clearinghouse for information on wildlife morbidity 

and mortality, and houses an extensive collection of diagnostic information pertaining to wildlife disease. Since wildlife, 

domestic animal, and human diseases are closely intertwined, 

documenting disease in wildlife not only provides an ‘early 

warning system’ for possible human or domestic animal 

outbreaks, but helps to ascertain ecosystem health at local, 

regional, and national levels. Much of the textual information 

before 1990 existed in hardcopy form only. With the help of 

Data Rescue funding, over 88,000 original documents, such 

as handwritten and typewritten pages, radiographs, and photographs have been scanned and saved into Portable Document 

Format documents, representing 23,030 individual diagnostic 

submissions. Data reviewers have incorporated 9,452 new or 

updated records into the Center’s wildlife mortality database 

providing easier, consolidated access to critical information. 

Additional information can be found on the National Wildlife 

Health Center Web site at http://www.nwhc.usgs.gov/.

Expansion of USGS Landsat Archive

The Landsat Mission has been acquiring images from 

around the world since 1972. In the past four decades, data have 

been downlinked to satellite ground stations across the globe. 

The USGS estimates that over 5 million images reside in international archives, and there is a major effort underway to bring 

all these data back to the USGS. In response to this endeavor, 

the USGS has received over 500,000 images in the last 2 years 

from its international partners. These digital files come in all 

types of formats and on all types of media. Funding for software development and archive storage has come from the Data 

Rescue Program.

Sample documents from various diagnostic cases examined at the 

National Wildlife Health Center that have been scanned and added 

to the clearinghouse.

Malaysia is often cloud covered, so obtaining cloud-free satellite USGS Landsat archive was able to capture clearer views, as seen 

imagery is difficult. However, with the use of Data Rescue funds, the above, taken by Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper. (Image date: June 2000.)
In addition, some data stored at the USGS Earth Resources 

Observation and Science (EROS) Center had been received 

from an outside source many years ago and could not be read or 

processed into a useful data product. The Data Rescue Program funded development so that the USGS now has 145,000 

of some of the oldest scenes in the archive (some which have 

never before been seen, to our knowledge) available for viewing 

and analysis. For more information on the Landsat Program 

visit http://landsat.usgs.gov/.

Historical Files from Federal Government Mineral 

Exploration-Assistance Programs, 1950–1974

With the use of Data Rescue funding more than 5,000 original historical minerals exploration-assistance dockets (paper, 

carbon paper copies, copies of maps, graph copies, blueline copies of maps, linen or mylar maps, and other fragile and sometimes poor quality media) of the 1950–70 era were scanned and 

are now available to the public. These dockets provide access 

to unique or difficult-to-recreate data that are invaluable to land 

and resource management organizations and the minerals industry. In FY 2011, there were over 1.2 million online requests for 

dockets from the Web site created with Data Rescue funds. For 

more information see the Historical Files from Federal Government Mineral Exploration-Assistance Programs, 1950–1974 

Web site at http://minerals.usgs.gov/dockets/.

Water Resources Records Available only in USGS 

Archives

Most USGS Water Science Center offices have littleknown, but highly valuable sets of historic water resources 

records in their paper archives. A demonstration project, funded 

by Data Rescue funds at the Texas Water Science Center, 

improved the visibility of these archives by digitizing more than 

1,500 photographs, field measurements, reports, charts, maps, 

and other information from over 100 years of data collection at 

a single streamflow station. The documents include information beneficial to scientific efforts including hydrology, biology, 

climate change and geomorphology, plus the records assist 

genealogical investigations, historical society studies, and even 

USGS historians. Follow-on data rescue efforts digitized the 

complete collections of more than 1,800 streamflow-sedimentrelated documents and nearly 350 pump tests for wells in 

aquifers. The latest rescue efforts focused on digitizing a large 

collection of detailed supporting documentation of post-flood 

analyses including field notes, photographs, surveyed channel 

cross sections, and newspaper articles about individual flood 

events at USGS streamflow stations.

A template is available to facilitate working with other 

agencies to rescue additional records to complement the 

modern data they fund USGS to collect. A USGS fact sheet 

(http://txpub.usgs.gov/archives/FactSheet.pdf) highlights the 

digital data now available from our historical paper archives and 

directs users to a comprehensive Web site (http://tx.usgs.gov/

archives/), which describes the benefits of the newly digitized 

data holdings and allows users to search a number of categories, 

filter by dates, and download documents of interest.

Examples of historical mineral exploration documents that have 

been scanned and are now available online.

Streamgage documents being made available through Data Rescue 

projects.
Historical Files from USGS North American Bird 

Phenology Program (BPP), 1880–1970

With the assistance of Data Rescue funding, more than a 

million original historical bird migration records documenting 

arrival and departure dates for over 870 species across North 

America were electronically scanned. In an innovative project to curate the data and make them publicly available, the 

scanned records were uploaded to the Internet, where volunteers 

worldwide transcribed the records and added them to a database 

for analysis. This dataset is unique in its coverage, temporal 

breadth, comprehensiveness, and comparative value to modern measures of climate change. Its rescue, digitization, and 

distribution provide unprecedented insight into bird migratory 

behaviors, including their responses to climate change. For 

more information, see the Web site for the North American Bird 

Phenology Program at http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/bpp/.

Original historical bird migration records.

The USGS is the Nation’s and the world’s leading natural science and information agency—an 

authoritative source of scientific datasets and the keeper of information. Scientific inquiries within 

and outside the USGS will benefit from the enhanced accessibility of our decades of observational 

data and analysis. The USGS has a substantial role to play in providing the information and tools 

needed to address pressing societal issues and to help ensure the sustained health, welfare, and prosperity of the Nation. The Data Rescue Program demonstrates the long-term commitment to protecting 

and preserving USGS’ scientific information for the Nation and the world for as long into the future 

as possible.

For more information on Data Rescue activities, contact:

Carol Wippich

Data Rescue Project Manager

Administrative and Enterprise Information

U.S. Geological Survey

12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS 807

Reston, VA 20192

Nancy Sternberg

Chief, Office of Information and Investment Management

Administrative and Enterprise Information

U.S. Geological Survey

12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, MS 807

Reston, VA 20192