Tucked inside the rocket payload fairing, the next Landsat satellite is ready to ride into space at Vandenberg AFB, CA. Courtesy of NASA.

Currently known as NASA’s Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), the satellite will be renamed Landsat 8 after three months of extensive testing.  Operational control will then be transferred to USGS.

Landsat 8 will extend the longest continuous and comprehensive record of the Earth’s land as viewed from space. As the world’s population surpasses seven billion people, the impact of human society on the planet is increasing. The continuation of Landsat’s four-decade look at Earth will help monitor those impacts and more accurately forecast future environmental change.

Seeing beyond human sight

Landsat data can assist a broad range of specialists in managing the world’s food, water, forests, and other natural resources for a growing world population.

Landsat images from space are not just pictures. They contain many layers of data collected at different points along the visible and invisible light spectrum. Consequently, Landsat images can show where vegetation is thriving and where it is stressed, where droughts are occurring, where wildland fire is a danger, and where erosion has altered coastlines or river courses.

Landsat satellites give us a view as broad as 12,000 square miles per scene while describing land cover in units the size of a baseball diamond. From a distance of more than 400 miles above the earth surface, a single Landsat scene can record the condition of hundreds of thousands of acres of grassland, agricultural crops, or forests.

Landsat images reveal subtle, gradual changes, such as Wyoming rangelands greening up after a drought, as well as massive landscape changes that occur in rapidly growing urban areas. Landsat can also provide broad assessments of sudden natural or human-induced disasters, such as the number of acres charred by a forest fire or the extent of tsunami inundation. Landsat data have been used to monitor water quality, glacier recession, sea ice movement, invasive species encroachment, coral reef health, land use change, deforestation rates, and population growth.

Free data for innovation

The Wallow Fire, named for the Bear Wallow Wilderness area where the fire originated, was the biggest fire recorded in Arizona. Nearly 6,000 people were evacuated. Landsat 7, June 7, 2011.

The Department of the Interior (DOI) policy of unrestricted access and free distribution of Landsat data encourages researchers everywhere to develop practical applications of the data.  Specific, purpose-driven applications of Landsat data can serve commercial endeavors in agriculture and forestry; they can enable land managers in and out of government to work more efficiently; they can assist scientists in defining and assessing critical environmental issues.

With its long-term historical record of the entire globe and widely recognized high quality of data, Landsat is valued all over the world as the gold standard of land observation. Ready access to authoritative Landsat images provides a reliable common record of Earth conditions that advances the mutual understanding of environmental challenges by citizens, researchers, and decision makers around the globe.

Interior and Landsat from the start

In 1966, at the start of the Landsat era, Interior Secretary Stewart Udall announced Interior’s new Project EROS, the acronym for Earth Resources Observation Satellites. In a statement that echoes to this day, Udall said, “…the time is now right and urgent to apply space technology towards the solution of many pressing natural resources problems being compounded by population and industrial growth.”   2007 video

Udall’s announcement was a catalyst for what eventually became the world’s first civilian land-imaging satellite, developed by NASA and launched on July 23, 1972.

USGS role in observing Earth

Mississippi River flooding near Memphis, Tenn., 2011. The 2006 image (left) shows the river in a more normal state, while the 2011 image (right) shows massive flooding. Landsat 5.

USGS and NASA have distinct roles in the Landsat program. NASA develops remote-sensing instruments and spacecraft, launches satellites, and validates their performance. The USGS then assumes ownership and operation of the satellites, in addition to managing ground-data reception, archiving, product generation, and distribution.

USGS has managed the operations of two Earth observing satellites — Landsat 5 and 7 — for over a decade.  Recently, USGS announced that, after nearly three decades of service, Landsat 5 would be decommissioned over the coming months, bringing to a close the longest-operating Earth observing satellite mission in history.

Launched in 1984, Landsat 5 orbited the planet over 150,000 times while transmitting over 2.5 million images of land surface conditions around the world, long outliving its original three-year design life.

Vital observations by Landsat 5 of the Mount Saint Helens eruption, Antarctica, the Kuwaiti oil fires, the Chernobyl disaster, rainforest depletion, major wildfires and floods, urban growth, global crop production, and ice shelf expansion and retreat have helped increase our understanding and awareness of the impact of humans on the land.

Landsat 7, launched in 1999, continues to provide daily information about our planet from space, although an instrument problem reduces the amount of data it collects.

Observing tomorrow

The LDCM/Landsat 8 satellite carries two instruments, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS). Advanced technology increases the reliability and sensitivity of these instruments, while the improved measurements are still compatible with the past Landsat data record.

The technical capabilities of LDCM/Landsat 8 move forward in three areas in comparison to Landsat 7:  increased spectral coverage; higher data precision  (the ultimate resolution is not changed); and increased quantity of data collection (60% more scenes per day).  Landsat 8 will orbit Earth once every 99 minutes at an average altitude of 438 miles (705 kilometers),  repeating the same ground track every 16 days.

Landsat 8 data is expected to be available within 100 days of launch from the USGS data archive.

Watching the launch

Further information

USGS Landsat Missions (latest satellite status and related information)

Landsat Data Continuity Mission (NASA)

Landsat: A Global Imaging Program (USGS Fact Sheet)

NASA-USGS 40^th Anniversary of Landsat (July 2012)

Earth as Art (a collection of Landsat scenes created for aesthetic purposes)

BBC interview on Landsat with Matt Larsen, USGS Associate Director

Landsat history (NASA)

What is the Economic Value of Satellite Imagery? (USGS Professional Paper)

The next Landsat satellite: The Landsat Data Continuity Mission (scholarly article)

Mount St. Helens and its surrounding area continue to recover from the explosive eruption of May 1980. Shades of white and gray indicate still-bare slopes; dark “rivers” are deep channels cut by fast-moving flows of hot ash, rock and gas. Green represents regrowth of vegetation.

Two images from Landsat  satellites are included in the new U.S Post Office series of 15 Earthscapes Forever stamps. Released October 1 to kick off National Stamp Collecting Month, the stamps vividly portray America’s diverse landscapes as viewed from heights of several hundred feet above the Earth to several hundred miles in space.

“Once you’ve seen the world from above, you never look at it quite the same way again,” said U.S. Postal Service Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Joseph Corbett, Washington. “That’s why the Postal Service is proud to offer these Earthscapes stamps, which invite us to take a bird’s eye view of the land we all share.”

The Landsat Program is a series of Earth-observing satellite missions jointly managed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and NASA. Remote-sensing satellites, such as the Landsat series, help scientists to observe the world beyond the power of human sight, to monitor changes, and to detect critical trends in the conditions of natural resources. USGS conducts the daily operations of the Landsat 5 and 7 satellites.

Earthscapes

The Earthscapes collection presents examples of three broad categories of the way that human actions intersect with the land — natural, agricultural, and urban. The colorfully patterned portraits were all created high above the planet’s surface, either carefully composed by photographers in aircraft or routinely imaged by Landsat  satellites while orbiting the Earth at an altitude of over 400 miles.

Each stamp, within its limited amount of space, represents only a stylized fragment of a geographical area, which may or may not be typical of a particular region. Still, they offer stamp customers an opportunity to see the world in a new way.

The two stamps that feature Landsat images — Volcanic Crater and Center-pivot irrigation — depict a natural disaster site, Mount Saint Helens, and an agricultural practice that is common in the Garden City, Kansas area.

Volcanic Crater

Mount St. Helens and surrounding area recover from the historic May 1980 eruption. Shades of white and gray indicate still-bare slopes that were swept by volcanic flows; light green areas at the top of the photo show re-growth of vegetation in devastated areas; dark green areas at the bottom were unaffected by the eruption.

Center-pivot irrigation

Circular patterns on Kansas cropland show center-pivot sprinkler systems have been at work. Red circles indicate healthy, irrigated crops; lighter circles represent harvested crops. Corn, wheat, alfalfa, soybeans, and grain sorghum account for most of the irrigated acreage in Kansas.

A Long View from Space

Two images from the Landsat 7 satellite were included in the U.S Post Office series of 15 Earthscapes Forever stamps released Oct. 1, 2012.

Remote-sensing satellites, such as the Landsat series, help scientists to observe the world beyond the power of human sight, to monitor changes, and to detect critical trends in the conditions of natural resources. Data supplied by Landsat supports the improvement of human and environmental health, energy and water management, urban planning, disaster recovery, and crop monitoring.

USGS archives and distributes the massive amount of Earth observation data that has been collected by the Landsat satellite series since 1972. This extended record — now four decades long — forms an impartial, comprehensive, and easily accessed register of human and natural changes on the land.

Earth as Art

Beyond the scientific information they confer, some Landsat images are simply striking to look at, as illustrated in the Earthscapes collection.  In fact, among the millions of freely accessible Landsat images, many present spectacular views of mountains, valleys, and islands; forests, grasslands, and agricultural patterns.  By selecting certain features and coloring them from a digital palate, the USGS has created a series of Earth as Art perspectives that demonstrate an artistic resonance in land imagery and provide a special avenue of insight about the geography of each scene.

As part of the Landsat 40^th Anniversary Celebration this summer, the USGS and NASA held an online contest in which more 14,000 people voted on their Top Five favorite Earth as Art images.

On the horizon

NASA is preparing to launch the next Landsat satellite, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), on February 11, 2013, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. LDCM will be the most technologically advanced satellite in the Landsat series. LDCM sensors take advantage of evolutionary advances in detector and sensor technologies to improve performance and increase reliability. Once it successfully achieves orbit, LDCM will join the Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites as Landsat 8 to continue the Landsat data record.

Links and resources

USGS Landsat

NASA Landsat

Earth as Art Image Gallery

History and overview of the Landsat program (nontechnical)

The world’s longest-running Earth-observing satellite program — Landsat — turns 40.

The world’s longest-running Earth-observing satellite program — Landsat — is 40 years old.

NASA — working in cooperation with the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and its science agency, the USGS — launched the first Landsat satellite on July 23, 1972. The resulting 40-year archive of Earth observations from the Landsat fleet forms an impartial, comprehensive, and easily accessed register of human and natural changes on the land.

Remote-sensing satellites, such as the Landsat series, help scientists to observe the world beyond the power of human sight, to monitor changes, and to detect critical trends in the conditions of natural resources. Data supplied by Landsat supports the improvement of human and environmental health, energy and water management, urban planning, disaster recovery, and crop monitoring.

Through 40 years of continuous coverage, the Landsat series of Earth observation satellites has become a fundamental global reference for scientific issues related to land use and natural resources. Landsat is valued all over the world as the gold standard of land observation. No other satellite program, in our nation or in any other country, comes close to having the historical length and breadth, the continuity and the coverage, of the Landsat archive.

A Versatile Perspective

Landsat satellites can give us a view as broad as 12,000 square miles per scene while characterizing land cover in units the size of a baseball diamond. In one instant look from over 400 miles in space, a single Landsat scene can record the condition of hundreds of thousands of acres of grassland, agricultural crops, or forests.

A comparison of the images illustrates the significant growth in the greater D.C. area. Major urban development can be seen the surrounding communities of Rockville, Greenbelt, and Suitland, Maryland. The expanded Woodrow Wilson Bridge, connecting Springfield, Virginia, with Oxon Hill, Maryland, is evident. The record of surface change is used by urban planners and local officials to evaluate the rate and direction of growth in the area.

Landsat images from space are not just pictures. They contain many layers of data collected at different points along the visible and invisible light spectrum. Consequently, Landsat images can show where vegetation is thriving and where it is stressed, where droughts are occurring, where wildland fire is a danger, and where erosion has altered coastlines or river courses.

Landsat images reveal subtle, gradual changes, such as Wyoming rangelands greening up after a drought, as well as massive landscape changes that occur in rapidly growing urban areas. Landsat can also provide inexpensive assessments of sudden natural or human-induced disasters, such as the number of acres charred by a forest fire or the extent of tsunami inundation.

Impartial information freely available

The Department of the Interior’s policy of releasing the full Landsat archive at no cost allows everyone to have access to this important resource, allowing researchers in the private sector and at universities to generate even more data applications — applications that serve commercial endeavors in agriculture and forestry, that enable land managers in and out of government to work more efficiently, and that define and tackle critical environmental issues.

Landsat and innovation

Landsat has sparked innovation in Earth systems research and in commercial applications of the data from its inception in the mid-1960s.  Since 2008, when Landsat images were made available free of charge, there has been a remarkable burst of innovative science applications of the data.

For example, Landsat data played a central role in an award-winning type of mapping that tracks water use. Using Landsat imagery supplied by USGS in combination with ground-based water data, the Idaho Department of Water Resources and the University of Idaho developed a novel method to create water-use maps that are accurate to the scale of individual fields. Water-use maps help save taxpayer money by increasing the accuracy and effectiveness of public decisions involving water — for instance, in monitoring compliance with legal water rights. In 2009, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University cited Idaho’s original design for these maps as an outstanding innovation in American government.

The National Land Cover Database (NLCD 2006) produced by USGS and the federal interagency Multi‑Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC) from Landsat imagery is a massive database that describes the surface condition of each 30-meter cell of land in the conterminous U.S. One such cell is approximately the area of a baseball diamond. The range and accuracy of the database enables land managers, urban planners, agricultural experts, and scientists with many different interests (for instance, climate change or invasive species) to identify critical characteristics of the land for a wide variety of investigations.

In the beginning

By the mid-1960s, some civilian geologists, geographers, and agronomists were familiar with imaging potential of classified Earth-observing satellites and had also studied the surprisingly detailed land-surface photos taken by early astronauts using hand-held cameras.

In 1966, with NASA still heavily committed to the Apollo Program in preparation for what would be a 1969 moon landing, the USGS convinced Interior Secretary Stewart Udall to hold a press conference announcing Interior’s new Project EROS, the acronym for Earth Resources Observation Satellites, and, furthermore, that Interior’s first satellite would launch in 1969!

In a statement that echoes true to this day, Udall said, “…the time is now right and urgent to apply space technology towards the solution of many pressing natural resources problems being compounded by population and industrial growth.” This bold announcement succeeded as a catalyst for what eventually became the world’s first civilian land-imaging satellite, developed by NASA and launched on July 23, 1972.

Six years earlier, Udall had said the satellite would be “…just the beginning of a great decade in land and resource analysis for a burgeoning population.”  Today we celebrate not one but four great decades in Earth science from space.

USGS created the “Earth as Art” series to provide a unique avenue of insight about the geography of selected Landsat scenes that have an artistic resonance. This image is titled “Malaspina Glacier.” The tongue of the Malaspina Glacier, the largest glacier in Alaska, fills most of this image. The Malaspina lies west of Yakutat Bay and covers 1,500 sq mi (3,880 sq km).

On the horizon

NASA is preparing to launch the next Landsat satellite, the Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM), on February 11, 2013, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. LDCM will be the most technologically advanced satellite in the Landsat series. LDCM sensors take advantage of evolutionary advances in detector and sensor technologies to improve performance and increase reliability. Once it successfully achieves orbit, LDCM will join the Landsat 5 and Landsat 7 satellites as Landsat 8 to continue the Landsat data record.

Join the celebration

NASA and USGS held a news conference,  July 23, to highlight the accomplishments of the Landsat program at the Newseum in Washington, DC.

NASA Television and the NASA website provided live briefing coverage and will maintain archived video of the event. Visit NASA TV or NASA Goddard Multimedia.

For information about “Landsat at 40” anniversary features:

• 10 most significant images from the Landsat record;
• U.S. regions selected for the “My American Landscape” contest;
• announcement of the top five Landsat “Earth As Art” images,visit NASA Landsat.

For details about the Landsat program, including current operations and situational updates, visit USGS Landsat.

Ice Waves. Along the southeastern coast of Greenland, an intricate network of fjords funnels glacial ice to the Atlantic Ocean. Landsat 7 Image.

During a span of 40 years, since 1972, the Landsat series of Earth observation satellites has become a vital reference worldwide for understanding scientific issues related to changes on the Earth’s surface.

To celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Landsat, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) would like your help in selecting the top five “Earth as Art” images from the more than 120 images in the collection.

The poll is now open and will close on July 6.

Learn more and get details on how to cast your vote.

The top five “Earth as Art” images will be announced on July 23 in Washington, D.C. at a special event commemorating the launch of the first Landsat satellite.

Information as Art

Built by NASA and operated by the USGS, Landsat satellites supply Earth scientists, land-resource managers, and policy makers with objective data about changes across the global landscape. Some changes, like major floods or volcanic eruptions, come quickly; others, like urban sprawl or regrowth from forest fires, appear gradually. Landsat impartially records these and many other changes to the land that are induced by people or nature.

Beyond the scientific information they confer, some Landsat images are simply striking to look at — presenting spectacular views of mountains, valleys, and islands; forests, grasslands, and agricultural patterns. By selecting certain features and coloring them from a digital palate, the USGS has created a series of “Earth as Art” perspectives that demonstrate an artistic resonance in land imagery and provide a special avenue of insight about the geography of each scene.

NASA is preparing to launch the next Landsat satellite in 2013, which will be turned over to USGS for operations and data distribution.

The Lena River, some 2,800 miles (4,500km) long, is one of the largest rivers in the world. The Lena Delta Reserve is the most extensive protected wilderness area in Russia. It is an important refuge and breeding grounds for many species of Siberian wildlife. Landsat 7 Image.

More Information

Earth as Art Image Gallery

Earth as Art at the Library of Congress (exhibit extended through August 31, 2012)

USGS Landsat

NASA Landsat

Contest URL:  http://eros.usgs.gov/eaa_voting/

This stretch of Iceland's northern coast resembles a tiger's head complete with stripes of orange, black, and white. The tiger's mouth is the great Eyjafjorour, a deep fjord that juts into the mainland between steep mountains. The name means "island fjord," derived from the tiny, tear-shaped Hrisey Island near its mouth. The ice-free port city of Akureyri lies near the fjord's narrow tip, and is Iceland's second largest population center after the capital, Reykjavik. Landsat 7 Image.

This image, from April 2004, shows mortality of some adult Joshua trees resulting from years of hot-dry climate. During the prior year, this area received only 17 percent of its average precipitation and was 4 degrees F warmer than average -- conditions that are projected to become even more frequent in models of future climate. Seedlings and saplings in this southerly stand of Joshua trees are rare to non-existent.

As the climate gets warmer, many forests are feeling the heat. Impacts range from increased forest fire hazards and tree mortality to detrimental beetle outbreaks and alterations to leaf abundance and bloom.

When forest cover or composition changes, there are impacts to the availability of wood products, clean water, recreational opportunities, and habitats for many plants and animals.

In recognition of World Forestry Day, let’s take a glimpse at U.S. Geological Survey science to understand the fate of forests from climate change.

To sustain the health and production of America’s forests, managers need sound science to guide their decisions. The USGS is involved in several initiatives across the nation and in other countries to provide science to understand climate change impacts to forests.

A prescribed fire lights up the night at Sequoia National Park, California. USGS scientists are investigating how fire in an era of climate change are affecting forests across the United States. Credit: USGS, Nate Stephenson

USGS scientists are working to detect what forest changes are happening and the associated impacts, while also developing forecasts and scenarios for what may happen in the future. Scientists are even looking at the potential for our nation’s vegetation, soils and sediments to soak up and store carbon from the atmosphere. This science is the basis on which strategies are developed to manage and protect these environments.

What Changes are Happening Now and in the Future?

Scientists are identifying how climate change is impacting forests by answering questions such as: What’s happening, why, what does it mean, and what does the future hold?

Forest Fires

There is a growing realization that climate warming may be linked to increasing forest fire size, severity, and frequency.  Hotter temperatures result in reduced winter snowpack, earlier snowmelt, longer summer drought, and therefore drier conditions that are more susceptible to fire ignition.

Forest Die-off

USGS scientists have found that warmer temperatures and associated stress from drought are contributing to increased tree mortality in all major forest types around the world. The USGS is developing models to forecast expected changes in tree distributions given projected changes in climate. In the Southwest, for example, Joshua trees will likely be eliminated from 90 percent of their current range in 60 to 90 years. Other USGS research has also identified a rapidly rising death rate for trees in old-growth forests across the West.

Beetle Outbreaks

Hotter temperatures may contribute to outbreaks of insects or diseases, both native and non-native, which are harmful to forests. USGS scientists have linked some recent outbreaks of tree-killing bark beetles in the West to warming temperatures. In Colorado, the USGS is working to evaluate whether and how forest management practices (such as thinning or prescribed burning) increase or decrease forests’ resilience to a currently destructive native insect, the mountain pine beetle.

A hemispherical photo from Pocosin weather station site, Shenandoah National Park.

Leaf Growth and Abundance

As climate changes, it affects the timing of when leaves emerge, the amount of foliage that grows as well as the timeframe when leaves begin to fall. The study of the timing of such events as related to climate is termed “phenology.” USGS scientists are studying how forest phenology may be impacted by climate change, focusing research on Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. Understanding forest phenology patterns is important because it affects water resources, habitat condition, the timing of allergy seasons, vacation planning and tourism, and carbon storage.

Storing Carbon in Forests

Trees naturally soak up CO₂ from the air through photosynthesis. Forests absorb about ¼ of annual anthropogenic (human created) carbon emissions that would otherwise contribute to atmospheric warming.

USGS scientists are assessing the potential of ecosystems to store carbon in vegetation, soils and sediments, which is a process known as biological carbon sequestration. The assessment will help inform land management decisions such as wetland restoration, forest harvesting, or farming techniques. A USGS assessment on the amount of carbon stored in ecosystems across the nation is expected to be completed around 2013.

The USGS is also actively involved in SilvaCarbon, helping countries build the capacity to monitor and manage their forests and carbon. In a collaborative effort, U.S. Federal agencies have been conducting national assessments in Gabon, Indonesia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. They are also providing training workshops such as techniques for forest mapping and how to link ground, aerial and satellite observations. SilvaCarbon also contributes to the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Forest Carbon Tracking initiative.

Forest Science Requires Long-Term Monitoring and Research

Scenic shots of Rocky Mountain National Park, Mountain Pine Beetle damage to pine forest.

Part of the challenge for understanding how forests are affected by climate change is the need for long-term data. Satellites are a cost-effective way to gather wide-spread information on forests, and the USGS Landsat program has been doing so across the globe since 1972. Landsat records provide the world’s longest continuous collection of space-based data.

The world’s longest ongoing annual record of forest data is in Sequoia and Yosemite national parks in California. For 30 years, the USGS has been tracking the birth, growth, health and deaths of some 30,000 individual trees in these parks. Research is coordinated through the USGS Western Mountain Initiative climate change project.

Start with Science

Long-term monitoring and sound science on climate change impacts to our forests is needed to make the most informed decisions to protect these environments.

Contact: Jessica Robertson

The U.S. Geological Survey and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have produced a book that gives us a new way to look at our shared global heritage. From Space to Place: An Image Atlas of World Heritage Sites on the ‘In Danger’ List demonstrates an important scientific tool — remote sensing by Earth observing satellites — that helps us understand and manage the physical world we live in.

It is also a visually stunning book that depicts some of the most world’s most notable places.

Mario Hernandez of UNESCO, one of the book’s authors, says the atlas is the result of a fruitful collaboration between the two organizations. “UNESCO and USGS have been working closely to advance the idea of Space for Heritage – the use of space technologies and satellite imagery for the assessment and management of World Heritage sites.  The From Space to Place atlas is a beautiful and useful product from that collaboration.”

In 1972, UNESCO adopted a treaty that calls on the international community to recognize and protect specific places designated as “World Heritage Sites.”  These sites, chosen for their outstanding universal value, may be masterpieces of human creative genius; testimony to cultural tradition or civilizations both living and disappeared; they may contain superlative natural phenomena or exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance; or they may house important natural habitats for conservation of biological diversity.

Roger Sayre, the book’s lead author and a senior scientist in the USGS Climate and Land-Use Change Program, says World Heritage sites “are some of the most globally important natural and cultural treasures on Earth,” and adds that “satellite imagery is a valuable data resource that researchers and managers can use to understand threats to these areas, and improve their management.”

Using Satellites to Aid World Heritage

From Space to Place uses satellite imagery to create an atlas depicting the 31 sites on the List of World Heritage in Danger, which are threatened by both human and natural factors. Because not all threats can be seen with satellite images, the editors offer more detailed photos showing a specific feature or species.

“This book shows the many ways satellite imagery helps us assess our environment,” says Anne Castle, Assistant Secretary for Water and Science at the Department of the Interior.  “There is considerable scientific value in the Landsat imagery we have amassed for this project, which we are hopeful will be of great value to the managers and governmental owners of these critical and unbelievably beautiful places.”

Place and History

Much of human history is made up of intangible elements like human actions and activities, philosophical and academic theories, and events both big and small that cannot be recaptured. But many of these ephemeral pieces of our collective memory are embodied by tangible structures and physical features that endure after a moment has passed. These sites may be political monuments like Independence Hall in the United States, or great architectural or artistic achievements like Spain’s Works of Antoni Gaudi or France’s Chartres Cathedral. They may be places that witnessed history both tragic and triumphant like Auschwitz Birkenau or Athens’ Acropolis. They may simply stun us with their natural beauty and scale, like Sumatra’s tropical rainforest or Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. These places – all on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites — are touchstones that we inherit and leave behind; they help us map our universal history.

But not just one type of satellite could tell the full visual story of these places. In the atlas, Landsat imagery combines with other higher resolution images from the Quickbird, Ikonos, Corona and Worldview satellites to show a bird’s eye view of the sites in context with their surrounding environment, giving us a broader perspective on how to understand, protect and manage these treasures.  Other imagery from the Terra and Aqua satellites show coarser pictures, but have a higher temporal frequency, providing imagery of the same location every other day, as opposed to every 16 days for Landsat.

Here are some key examples of those places in From Space to Place.

Garamba National Park

A Landsat image of Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo shows a diverse mosaic of colors representing the many types of habitat that give charismatic animals like the African elephant, giraffe, and hippopotamus a home in the park. Shades of green show different types of forest, while red and brown areas depict savannah grasslands. UNESCO put the park, one of Africa’s oldest protected areas, on the “In Danger” list” in 1996. Threats include limited management, poaching, civil unrest and species decline.

Two moderate resolution (30 m) Landsat 7 ETM+ satellite images taken in 2002 show the extent of Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and indicate the variety of multicolor habitats it contains.

Abu Mena Archaeological Area

Egypt’s Abu Mena Archaeological Area, which contains remains of an early Christian holy settlement. Built over Menas of Alexandria’s tomb, a martyr who died in AD 296, the site was added to the list in 2001. The view from the Landsat satellite shows the former pilgrimage center in context of its modern surroundings marked by human settlement and agricultural production. Irrigation has transformed the landscape and changed the region’s long-term hydrology, making soil soft and unstable and dissolving the clay that supports the site’s buildings, which now are in risk of collapse.

A pair of moderate resolution (30 m) natural color Landsat images of the area around Abu Mena, in Egypt, from 1984 and 2001 show how the landscape around the site changed in that 17-year period. The site has become completely surrounded by irrigated agricultural development.

In the United States

The United States is home to 21 World Heritage sites, none of which are on the “In Danger” list. Still, this atlas provides an example of how satellite imagery improves our way of looking at the places that define our country. From the Statue of Liberty to the Grand Canyon, and from the Everglades to the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, we can use space technology and scientific understanding to manage our shared national treasures.

USGS Scientist Paul Hsieh, 2011 Federal Employee of the Year

The USGS scientist Dr. Paul Hsieh was named Federal Employee of the Year, highlighting the value of our science to the Nation. Hsieh was recognized by the Partnership for Public Servicefor his timely scientific analysis that convinced Federal leaders responding to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill that the cap placed over the Macondo well was working, allowing for a safe shutdown.

DOI Assistant Secretary Anne Castle Christens the USGS R/V Kaho. The Kaho is one of two sister ships that will begin research work in the Great Lakes.

USGS scientists worked on several regional and national issues. We contributed to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, including new treatment tools to help control Asian carp, an invasive species, and launch of new research vessels being deployed to understand the deep-water ecosystems and fishes of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. USGS water quality monitoring and analysis, and water availability monitoring is taking place in waterways across the Nation at seven pilot locations that are part of the Urban Waters Federal Partnership: the Anacostia, Patapsco, Harlem, Bronx, and Los Angeles watersheds; the South Platte River, and the Lake Pontchartrain area. In the Grand Canyon, USGS science on uranium resources, hydrology, and the past impacts of mining informed the decision to withdraw Federal lands around the Grand Canyon from new mining claims. USGS science also played a significant role in Department of the Interior Natural Resource Damage Assessmentsettlements including the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the Tyrone Mine area in New Mexico.

Wind turbines at certain sites in North America each cause dozens of bat fatalities per year.

On the new energy frontier the USGS continues to lead the way in the Department of the Interior with the release of “Wind Energy in the United States and Materials Required for the Land Based Wind Turbine Industry from 2010 Through 2030.” The data suggest that, with the exception of rare earth elements, there should not be a shortage of the principal materials required for electricity generation from wind energy. In the area of wind and wildlife, our scientists are using near-infrared videography to monitor and research bat activity at wind turbines, as a side effect of the expansion of wind energy is increased bird and bat mortality at turbines. We also continue to focus on conventional sources of energy development, evidenced in our summary report of the science needs for conventional energy development for the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. In the area of unconventional gas, the USGS worked with the Department of Energy and provided information for their report on the needed reforms for unconventional gas production, and the USGS is working with the Environmental Protection Agency and DOE on a strategy to fill those research gaps.

A submarine berg emerges from the advancing terminus of Yahtse Glacier. Iceberg calving is a key process in the global sea level budget.

In the area of climate change, the USGS completed the establishment of the eight climate science centers across the country with universities and consortia in Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon, Hawaii, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Arizona. We also completed a study measuring the amount of stored carbon in the ecosystems of the Great Plains. This study was the first regional report that applied a comprehensive methodology designed by the USGS in 2010.

Scientists hike up the Little Colorado River to assist in installing remote PIT tag readers to more efficiently keep track of native, endangered fish populations.

Water continues to be a contentious issue in various parts of the country. In 2011, the USGS launched a geographic focus study on the Colorado River basin, part of the WaterSMART availability and land use assessment, a three-year study that will provide an inventory of water supply and demand. The effort includes assessing water needed to support ecosystems and will report significant competition over water resources and the factors causing the competition. Water information can also be sent to your email inbox or your phone, thanks to WaterAlert. This tool allows users to be notified daily of water levels at any of our 7,600 real-time streamgages across the country. Addressing the Nation’s water resource challenges is a priority for the USGS, and in 2011 we formed an innovative partnership to do just that with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This partnership will provide a one-stop portal to integrated water information for stakeholders with forecasts showing where water for drinking, industry, and ecosystems will be available.

Josh Latimore stands in front of Burney Falls. Latimore started at the USGS as a summer intern and now serves as a USGS hydrologic technician while pursuing his bachelor of science.

The USGS engaged in a wide array of youth activities nationwide in 2011. From the collaboration with GeoFORCE at the University of Texas-Austin, to the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program’s EDMAP training component, to the Rocky Mountain Science and Sustainability Summer Academy (RMSSN). GeoFORCE engages minority high school students in the earth sciences, the EDMAP encourages high school graduates of this program to continue to work with the USGS throughout their college careers, and RMSSN provides training in field observation, data entry, and scientific communication to diverse students.

This map shows the various reported levels of shaking around Oklahoma City after the November 5 M5.6 earthquake

The Great Central U.S. ShakeOut drill, held in April of 2011, is just one example of the USGS’s role in preparing for and responding to natural hazards. Another example is the National Earthquake Information Center’s provision of real-time data to on the magnitude and potential damage of the August earthquake in Virginia, and the November earthquake and aftershocks in Oklahoma. To better monitor aftershocks, mobile seismic monitors were deployed, bringing the total of earthquake sensors in the Advanced National Seismic System to over 2,200. Flooding was also a concern last year, with more than 30 states affected. To educate Congress about the 2011 floods, we conducted a congressional briefing titled “2011 — The Year of the Flood?” For more than 100 years the USGS has played a critical role in reducing flood losses by operating a nationwide streamgage network that monitors the water level and flow of the Nation’s rivers and streams. This information was critical to the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to simultaneously open the Mississippi River floodgates for the first time.

The 2006 image (left) show the river in a more normal state, while the 2011 image (right) shows the massive flooding. The dark blue tones represent water or flooded areas, the light green is cleared fields, and light tones are clouds.

During the heavy flooding that occurred on the Mississippi River, Missouri River, and other major waterways, the USGS’s Landsat satellites produced images of the affected areas to provide an overview of the situation. Landsat has often helped provide a big-picture perspective on natural hazards both domestic and foreign and ranging from tornados to tsunamis to wildfires. Landsat is a joint effort of both USGS and NASA. In addition to imagery of natural hazard events, Landsat provides valuable data for land use research and advances the Department of the Interior’s important role in land remote sensing under the President’s National Space Policy. Landsat images provide complete global coverage, they are available for free, and they span nearly 40 years of continuous earth observation. No other satellite imagery has that combination of attributes. To date, over 6 million scenes have been downloaded; over 2.6 million were downloaded in 2011.

These highlights are but a few of the USGS’s significant accomplishments and activities in 2011. Keep up with what we do in 2012 by visiting www.usgs.gov and following us on Twitter @usgs or on Facebook.

Gagehouse at 06225500 Wind River near Crowheart WY right before it washed away.

FREE and Open to the Public

Follow this event live on Twitter @USGSLive

This announcement and directions can be found online.

Requests for accommodations (i.e. sign language interpreting) require notice at least two weeks before the event. Please email jcorley@usgs.gov or call 703-648-7770.

The USGS public lectures are held monthly in Reston, Virginia. These evening events are free to the public and intended to familiarize a general audience with science issues that are meaningful to their daily lives. USGS speakers are selected for their ability and enthusiasm to share their expertise with an audience that may be unfamiliar with the topic; speakers are encouraged to thoroughly explain the subject matter and to define any words or terms that may be unfamiliar.
The USGS lecture series provides the public an opportunity to interact with USGS scientists and ask questions about recent developments in Natural Hazards; Water; Energy Minerals and Environmental Health; Climate and Land Use Change; Ecosystems; and Core Science Systems. Ultimately, the goal is to create a better understanding of the importance and value of USGS science in action.

Young boys working in a newly cropped field in Africa.

In parts of eastern Africa, drought is of increasing concern, as poor families suffer from food shortages and the inability to grow crops and sustain livestock. Stunted growth in children due to malnutrition has also been linked to climate trends in Africa.

Drought conditions are expected to continue as global temperatures continue to rise and rainfall declines across parts of eastern Africa.

This poses increased risk to millions of people in Africa who currently face potential food shortages.

What’s being done to help?

The USGS is involved in a variety of research efforts to help understand current and future conditions in Africa, helping to inform plans to provide aid.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network, or FEWS NET, is one endeavor that has already made great strides in helping to address this issue. FEWS NET helps target more than $1.5 billion of assistance to more than 40 countries each year.

FEWS NET examines the populations of the developing world with the most food insecurity, identifying critical situations in which food aid will be needed. These are populations whose livelihoods are typically tied to subsistence rain-fed agriculture and pastoralism.

FEWS NET is sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Office of Food for Peace and the USGS is actively involved.

FEWS NET at the United Nations Climate Convention

A USGS presentation on FEWS NET will be a featured side event on November 30, 2011, at the United Nations 17^th annual Conference of the Parties (COP-17) in Durban, South Africa. The convention’s purpose is to develop international agreements and a declaration of policies and practices for combating climate change and its impacts around the world.

A herder moves cattle through a barren landscape in eastern Africa.

Climate forecasts and remote sensing help spot future trouble

FEWS NET has developed its own climate services to provide decision makers with early identification of agricultural drought that might trigger food insecurity. Scientists use climate forecasts to develop forward-looking food security assessments that are based on expected agricultural outcomes for the season ahead.

Since networks of ground observation stations are often sparse or reported late in FEWS NET countries, satellite remote sensing of vegetation and rainfall fills in the gaps. Remote sensing from space allows for rapid, accurate assessments of a broad range of environmental and agricultural conditions. USGS scientists provide the technologies and expertise to support remote sensing for FEWS NET activities.

Early warning of famine in Somalia helps pre-position food supplies

On July 20, 2011, the United Nations declared parts of Somalia as a region of famine. The decision was supported by FEWS NET and USGS observational evidence of conditions in the area.

The declaration was the culmination of early warning communications encouraging — months before the crisis — that government and other agencies pre-position food and supplies in the region.

“None of the many uses of Earth-observing satellites is more vital — or has as much potential for prompting timely humanitarian intervention — as famine early warning,” said USGS Director Marcia McNutt. “Remote sensing from space allows USGS scientists to provide rapid, accurate assessments of a broad range of environmental and agricultural conditions.”

The eastern Horn of Africa, the continental region that encompasses Somalia, has experienced two consecutive seasons of very poor rainfall resulting in the worst drought in 60 years. Crops have failed, livestock deaths are widespread, and food prices are very high. While the rains this winter have been good, food prices remain high, and the food security situation remains insecure.

Stunted growth linked to malnutrition and climate change

Other USGS research is helping to identify the impacts of a changing climate on Africa’s people. Scientists recently discovered that malnutrition and dry hot living conditions are linked to stunted growth in Mali, West Africa.

USGS research found that Mali was becoming substantially warmer and a little bit drier. Scientists also knew that farmers and those who make a living raising sheep, cattle, goats, or camels were poor, and that stunted growth was occurring throughout Mali.

Scientists wondered if there could be a link between human health and increasingly warm and dry conditions.

To investigate, the USGS worked with the University of California, Santa Barbara, to study climate observations and demographic and health data. The Demographic and Health Survey program routinely compiles data from surveys in 90 countries to study trends in health and population. Scientists analyzed statistics on specific villages in Mali and found that there was a link between a warmer climate and increased stunting.

Population growth combined with the impacts of warming will further increase these health impacts.

Stunting was also linked to other factors, such as mother’s education and the water supply system. Women’s education, improved water supplies, and agricultural development could help to address malnutrition and stunting in Mali.

An article on this research was published in in the journal, Applied Geography, by San Diego State University, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the USGS.

A Food Security Assessment in Somalia found severe impacts on livestock due to drought conditions.

Other studies underway

Other new research includes the discovery that the warming of the Indian and western Pacific oceans (which is linked to global warming) affects rainfall over large areas of the Horn of Africa. As the globe has warmed over the last century, the Indian Ocean and western Pacific have warmed especially fast.

The resulting warmer air and increased humidity over the Indian and western Pacific oceans produce more frequent rainfall in that region. The air loses its moisture during rainfall, and then flows westward and descends over Africa, leading to decreased rain in parts of eastern Africa. Trends toward increased frequency of drought that we are seeing now are likely to continue into the future as warming continues.

A few recent articles on this research were published in the journal, Climate Dynamics, by scientists with the USGS, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. The most recent article concludes that global warming will lead to a decrease in rainfall during the summer monsoon season, from June to September, across southern Sudan, southern Ethiopia, and northern Uganda.  Another article concluded that eastern Africa, particularly Kenya and southern Ethiopia, will also have a significant decrease in rainfall during the long-rains season from March to June.

USGS scientists are working hard to translate these technical studies into reports for decision makers. To date, they have completed summary fact sheets focused on Sudan and Kenya.

Scientists also found that some regions, like northern Ethiopia, are not getting drier due to current warming temperatures. Rainfall varies dramatically across all of eastern Africa, with high mountainous areas typically receiving many times the rainfall received in low-lying areas. Therefore, agricultural growth in these climatically safe regions could help offset rainfall declines in other locations.

Start with science

Scientists are looking at clues and changes in nature to understand the impacts of global warming. In Africa, impacts are seen across the landscape — on farms and even in humans.

By starting with science, well-informed decisions can be made to help Africa as it faces drought, famine, and health concerns.

FEWS NET partners include the USAID, Chemonics International, the USGS, NASA, NOAA, and the USDA. The Geography Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara, is a partner to the USGS in this effort.

Want more information?

Listen to a podcast interview with USGS scientists as they discuss ongoing efforts to understand conditions in Africa.