The vertical land change activity focuses on the detection, analysis, and explanation of topographic change. These detection techniques include both quantitative methods, for example, using difference metrics derived from multi-temporal topographic digital elevation models (DEMs), such as, light detection and ranging (lidar), National Elevation Dataset (NED), Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (IFSAR), and qualitative methods, for example, using multi-temporal aerial photography to visualize topographic change. The geographic study areas of this activity are in Chippewa, Eau Claire, Jackson, Monroe, Trempealeau, and Wood counties in west central Wisconsin. Available multi-temporal lidar, NED, SRTM, IFSAR, and other topographic elevation datasets, as well as aerial photography and multi-spectral image data were identified and downloaded for these study area counties. Locations of industrial sand mines and processing plants (vector features) were obtained from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources at http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/Mines/ISMMap.html, and from the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, October 2012, update at https://fusiontables.google.com/DataSource?docid=17nDFI4iUPOdyDOEWU7Vu1ONMiVofa3aWR_Gs-Zk#rows:id=1. These features were used to spatially validate some of the mining locations that were predefined with Landsat-detected mining locations (polygons). Previously developed differencing methods (Gesch, 2006) were used to develop difference raster datasets of NED/SRTM (1961-2000 date range) and SRTM/IFSAR (2000-2008 date range). The difference rasters were evaluated to exclude difference values that were below a specified vertical change threshold, which was applied spatially by National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD) 1992 and 2006 land cover type, respectively. This spatial application of the vertical change threshold values improved the overall ability to detect vertical change because threshold values in bare earth areas were distinguished from threshold values in heavily vegetated areas. Lidar point cloud data and high-resolution (1-3 m) lidar DEMs were acquired for the Wisconsin six-county study area from Chippewa County Land Records Division, Chippewa Falls, WI; Eau Claire County, Eau Claire, WI; Jackson County and Jackson County Land Information Council, Black River Falls, WI; Monroe County, Sparta, WI; Trempealeau County, Whitehall, WI; and Wood County Planning and Zoning, Wisconsin Rapids, WI. ESRI Mosaic Datasets were generated from lidar point-cloud data and available topographic DEMs for the specified study areas. These data were analyzed to estimate volumetric changes on the land surface at three different periods with lidar acquisitions collected for Chippewa County, WI on May 15, 2011 and April 14, 2012; Eau Claire County, WI in 2013; Jackson County, WI in April, 2015; Monroe County, WI April 11-12, 2010; Trempealeau County, WI April 26, 2014 to May 5, 2014; and Wood County, WI March 21-31, 2015. The most recent difference analysis consisting of a raster dataset time span (2008-2015 date range) was analyzed by differencing the Wisconsin lidar-derived DEMs and an IFSAR-derived dataset. The IFSAR-derived data were resampled to the resolution of the lidar DEM (approximately 1-m resolution) and compared with the lidar-derived DEM. Land cover based threshold values were applied spatially to detect vertical change using the IFSAR/lidar difference dataset. Chippewa County lidar DEM metadata reported the root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.083 m. Eau Claire County lidar DEM metadata described an RMSE of 18.5 cm that supports 2 ft contours. Jackson County lidar DEM metadata reported that a comparison of the ground survey versus lidar model values indicated an RMSE of 0.214 ft (0.065 m). Monroe County lidar DEM metadata was obtained from the U.S. Interagency Elevation Inventory, which indicated an RMSE of 0.106 m. Trempealeau County lidar DEM included metadata describing RMSE values for different land cover types. A comparison of the Trempealeau ground survey versus lidar model values indicated an overall vertical RMSE of 0.344 ft (0.105 m). An RMSE was reported for each of the following land cover types in Trempealeau County: Urban: 0.169 US Survey Feet (0.051 m); Low Grass: 0.150 US Survey Feet (0.046 m); Tall Grass: 0.489 US Survey Feet (0.149 m); Low Trees: 0.432 US Survey Feet (0.132 m); Tall Trees: 0.342 US Survey Feet (0.104 m). This allowed additional refinement of the spatially explicit threshold values. Wood County lidar DEM RMSE was obtained from the US Interagency Elevation Inventory (0.122 m).References: Gesch, Dean B., 2006, An inventory and assessment of significant topographic changes in the United States Brookings, S. Dak., South Dakota State University, Ph.D. dissertation, 234 p, at https://topotools.cr.usgs.gov/pdfs/DGesch_dissertation_Nov2006.pdf.