Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center.
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The Eyes on Earth podcast is currently hosted by Tom Adamson, Jane Lawson, and Sheri Levisay (contractors for USGS EROS). Episodes are produced by Tom Adamson. Past hosts include John Hult and Steve Young (contractors for USGS EROS). Past producers include John Hult and Brian Hauge (contractors for USGS EROS).
Latest Episodes
Episode 94 – EROS 50th: Collaborations with SDSU
South Dakota State University opened its Remote Sensing Institute even before the launch of Landsat 1 and the selection of South Dakota as the location for EROS. In this episode, we talk about some of the collaborations that SDSU and EROS have both benefited from, including research projects centered on Landsat and other data sources, instrument calibration and validation, and trainings, presentations and workshops. SDSU faculty and EROS staff have ventured back and forth, and SDSU students have worked as interns and found employment at EROS.
Guests: Mary O’Neill, former program manager of SDSU’s Office of Remote Sensing and outgoing AmericaView board director, and Dennis Helder, founder of SDSU’s Image Processing Lab, former head of the Electrical Engineering Department and current part-time technical adviser and contractor at EROS
Episode 93 – EROS 50th: Film Scanning
Working with film has always been part of EROS’ 50-year history. How did EROS end up with an extensive film archive, and how are we making that data available to users? In this episode, we talk about the custom scanners built in-house from discarded parts to digitally capture historical aerial photos and declassified spy satellite images. These Phoenix systems have scanned millions of images and still have a lot of work to do.
Guests: Tim Smith and Mike Austad (contractors for USGS EROS)
Episode 92 – EROS 50th: The Library and Science Support
The Don Lee Kulow Library has been supporting scientific research at EROS since before the facility opened its doors in 1973. In this episode of Eyes on Earth, librarian Carol Deering explains how, rather than becoming obsolete with the advent of instant access to online journals, libraries are even more crucial for the discovery of previous studies and for gauging the reach and real-world effects of research done by EROS scientists. She also talks about the history of EROS and describes a one-time quest for documents that stretched from UC Berkeley to the Library of Congress to Australia and Kenya.
Guest: Carol Deering, contractor and librarian at the Don Lee Kulow Memorial Library at EROS
Episode 91 – Intro to AmericaView
AmericaView aims to advance Earth observation education through a network of programs based at universities in more than 40 states. In this episode, we talk about AmericaView’s goals and how AmericaView and its member states explain remote sensing efforts to society in a variety of ways, including outreach to students who range from elementary to graduate school. We also give examples of the organization’s remote sensing research and describe AmericaView’s ties with the USGS and with Landsat.
Guests: Chris McGinty, Executive Director of AmericaView; Lisa Wirth, Program Director of AmericaView; Sal Cook, USGS Program Liaison for the AmericaView Grant; J.C. Seong, Principal Investigator of GeorgiaView
Episode 90 – Landsat 8 Turns 10
Originally called the Landsat Data Continuity Mission, Landsat 8 launched on February 11, 2013. In this episode of Eyes on Earth, we talk about the 10th anniversary of Landsat 8 being in orbit and its value to the remote sensing community. While we cannot predict the future, it does look promising that Landsat 8 can sustain that continuity for more years to come.
Guest: Keith Alberts, Acting Landsat Flight Operations Project Manager, EROS
Episode 89 – EROS Workers and Weather
When the snow gets deep and the wind blows, it can be challenging for workers to travel to the USGS EROS Center, located several miles north of Sioux Falls, SD, on what used to be farmland. Most can telecommute these days, but in this episode of Eyes on Earth, we discover how essential employees ensure there is in-person continuous monitoring of Landsat ground station operations during winter weather—sometimes even requiring an overnight stay.
Guests: Joe Blahovec, chief of the Satellite and Ground Systems Operations Branch (SGO), and Aaron Hensley, ground station shiftlead, Critical Mission Support Staff, KBR
Episode 88 – Landsat 5’s Significance, Part 2
Designed to last three years, Landsat 5 launched in 1984 and transmitted data until the launch of Landsat 8 in 2013. In this episode, we learn about some of the challenges—and adrenaline rushes—Landsat 5 gave the flight operations team as it aged, as well as the fondness our two guests came to have for the satellite’s unique personality and the whole team as they served on it during the satellite’s twilight years. In October 2022, the Flight Operations Team won the 2020 Group Pecora Award during the 22nd William T. Pecora Memorial Remote Sensing Symposium.
Guests: Steve Covington, former Landsat 5 flight manager, now Aerospace Corp. contractor serving as the principal systems engineer for the USGS National Land Imaging Program; and Jeff Devine, former Landsat 5 lead operations engineer, now KBR contractor leading the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Flight Operations Team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Episode 87 – Landsat 5's Significance, Part 1
Summary: Designed to last three years, Landsat 5 launched in 1984 and transmitted data until the launch of Landsat 8 in 2013. In this episode, we learn about the significance of this satellite, which set a Guinness World Record for “Longest Operating Earth Observation Satellite.” Our two guests served on the flight operations team in the satellite’s twilight years and describe its importance to the unbroken record of Landsat data. They also share their personal connections with the satellite—including a journey from watching the launch on a monitor at EROS to eventually leading the team.
Guests: Steve Covington, former Landsat 5 flight manager, now Aerospace Corp. contractor serving as the principal systems engineer for the USGS National Land Imaging Program; and Jeff Devine, former Landsat 5 lead operations engineer, now KBR contractor leading the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope Flight Operations Team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Related Content
Find past episodes and their episode pages below.
Click on an episode title to visit the episode page. Episode pages include related content, transcript access, and full episode credits.
Eyes on Earth Episode 93 – EROS 50th: Film Scanning
Eyes on Earth Episode 92 – EROS 50th: The Library and Science Support
Eyes on Earth Episode 91 – Intro to AmericaView
Eyes on Earth Episode 90 – Landsat 8 Turns 10
Eyes on Earth Episode 89 – EROS Workers and Weather
Eyes on Earth Episode 88 – Landsat 5’s Significance, Part 2
Eyes on Earth Episode 87 – Landsat 5’s Significance, Part 1
Eyes on Earth Episode 86 - Tours at EROS
Eyes on Earth Episode 85 – Landsat 7 Extended Science Mission
Eyes on Earth Episode 84 – Hurricane Disturbance Mapping
Eyes on Earth Episode 83 - ECOSTRESS and Burn Severity
Eyes on Earth Episode 82 - Introduction to GEDI
Eyes on Earth audio archive
Eyes on Earth Episode 93 – EROS 50th: Film Scanning
Working with film has always been part of EROS’ 50-year history. How did EROS end up with an extensive film archive, and how are we making that data available to users? In this episode of Eyes on Earth, we talk about the custom scanners built in-house from discarded parts to digitally capture historical aerial photos and declassified spy satellite images.
Related Content
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Find past episodes and their episode pages below.
Click on an episode title to visit the episode page. Episode pages include related content, transcript access, and full episode credits.
Filter Total Items: 92Eyes on Earth Episode 93 – EROS 50th: Film Scanning
Evolved from discarded parts, Phoenix scanners digitize the vast film archive at EROS to make it available worldwide.Eyes on Earth Episode 92 – EROS 50th: The Library and Science Support
Here's a peek inside the Don Lee Kulow Library at EROS and its key role in research support for 50 years.Eyes on Earth Episode 91 – Intro to AmericaView
Learn about AmericaView’s role of educating all ages about Earth observation and remote sensing science.Eyes on Earth Episode 90 – Landsat 8 Turns 10
Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we reflect on Landsat 8’s 10th anniversary and the satellite’s contribution of 2.5 million scenes to the 50-year Landsat archive.Eyes on Earth Episode 89 – EROS Workers and Weather
Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we take a look at how essential employees ensure that the ground station keeps receiving satellite imagery during wintry weather.Eyes on Earth Episode 88 – Landsat 5’s Significance, Part 2
Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we learn about how the Landsat 5 flight operations team managed to keep the satellite going as it collected data into its 20s and an award the team recently received.Eyes on Earth Episode 87 – Landsat 5’s Significance, Part 1
Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we learn about the significance of the fifth satellite in the 50-year-old Landsat program and its remarkable ability to observe the Earth for nearly 29 years.Eyes on Earth Episode 86 - Tours at EROS
Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we share what visitors to EROS can expect to learn about Landsat satellites, land change monitoring and more during a tour.Eyes on Earth Episode 85 – Landsat 7 Extended Science Mission
Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we learn more about Landsat 7’s extended science mission and the resulting circumstance of collecting data from three Landsat satellites.Eyes on Earth Episode 84 – Hurricane Disturbance Mapping
Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we learn about the effort to map disturbances in Florida from Hurricane Ian in near real time.Eyes on Earth Episode 83 - ECOSTRESS and Burn Severity
Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we learn about the usefulness of ECOSTRESS data in examining predictors for wildfire burn patterns.Eyes on Earth Episode 82 - Introduction to GEDI
Eyes on Earth is a podcast on remote sensing, Earth observation, land change and science, brought to you by the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center. In this episode, we learn about the purpose of the GEDI mission on the International Space Station and what is being learned from it. - Multimedia
Eyes on Earth audio archive
Eyes on Earth Episode 93 – EROS 50th: Film Scanning
Working with film has always been part of EROS’ 50-year history. How did EROS end up with an extensive film archive, and how are we making that data available to users? In this episode of Eyes on Earth, we talk about the custom scanners built in-house from discarded parts to digitally capture historical aerial photos and declassified spy satellite images.
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