Eyes on Earth: Data

Episode 111 – Mendenhall Fellow’s Drought Forecasting

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In this episode, we spoke to Mikael Hiestand, a Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow. Using algorithms developed at EROS, Mikael is working on near-term drought forecasting. With synthetic Landsat data, he found that predicting evapotranspiration could be used as a means of drought prediction and monitoring. The Mendenhall Fellowship allows people who have just completed their PhD an opportunity to work on research with USGS scientists and prepare for their career.

Guest: Mikeal Hiestand, USGS Mendenhall Postdoctoral Fellow and Research Physical Scientist

Host: Tom Adamson (contractor for USGS EROS)

Release date: Monday, January 22, 2024

Episode 108 – Landsat 8’s 100^th Drag Make-Up Maneuver

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

The Landsat Program is considered the gold standard for satellite Earth-observation imagery. To keep it that way, the USGS EROS Flight Operations Team continually monitors the flight paths of the Landsat satellites to make sure they stay at a consistent 705-kilometer altitude. That means frequently speeding it up to counter the effects of atmospheric drag. But that’s not all. The team accounts for solar activity, space junk, and other factors to keep the satellites safe. Landsat 8’s 100^th Drag Make-Up maneuver in October 2023 gives us the opportunity, in this episode, to talk about these and the other maneuvers the flight team executes and how they work.

Guest: Larry Tornabene, Flight Systems Manager for Landsat 8

Host: Tom Adamson (contractor for USGS EROS)

Producer: Tom Adamson (contractor for USGS EROS)

Release date: Monday, November 20, 2023

Episode 95 – EROS 50^th: Landsat Science Team

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

The members of the five-year Landsat Science Teams, led jointly by the USGS and NASA with a strong tie to EROS, have brought a wide breadth of expertise, backgrounds and geographic locations to the table. In this episode, we learn how members have explored strategies for the effective use of archived Landsat data and integration of future data, and how they have helped identify Landsat user needs for upcoming satellite sensors, including those on the future Landsat Next.  

Guests: Curtis Woodcock, Boston University and 4 terms on Landsat Science Team; Mike Wulder, Canadian Forest Service and 3 terms on Landsat Science Team; David Roy, Michigan State University professor and 2 terms on Landsat Science Team

Host: Jane Lawson (contractor for USGS EROS)

Release date: Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Episode 93 – EROS 50^th: Film Scanning

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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)

Host: Tom Adamson (contractor for USGS EROS)

Release date: Monday, April 3, 2023

Episode 79 – Landsat Global Archive Consolidation

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

The Landsat archive at EROS contains an unparalleled 50 years of Earth observation data. But with earlier technologies, some Landsat scenes were collected and stored only by international ground receiving stations rather than in the central archive at EROS. More than 10 years ago, to help make that far-flung data available to scientists interested in land change over time, the Landsat Global Archive Consolidation (LGAC) project began having the reels and tapes sent to EROS to digitize that information. In this episode of Eyes on Earth, we learn how that project has deepened the archive dramatically.

Guests: Todd Taylor, EROS contract task lead for Sustaining Land Imaging partnership support, and contractor Jayson Holter, EROS task manager for the Landsat Missions Operations Project, Ground Operations

Host: Tom Adamson

Release date: August 29, 2022

Episode 74 – A Satellite Cross Calibration Mission

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When the first Landsat satellite launched 50 years ago, it was the only game in town in terms of civilian land remote sensing. In the years that followed, a host of satellites have launched to serve similar purposes. But that data doesn't always play well together. Subtle differences between the measurements taken by satellites make it difficult to do apples to apples comparisons of land change. On this episode of Eyes on Earth, we hear from the USGS partners working with partners in Australia to launch a satellite cross calibration mission that will offer a common reference post and serve as a sort of “translation tool” to help remote sensing scientists to use datasets together to study changes to the Earth’s surface.

Guests: Greg Stensaas, USGS EROS, Grant Mah, USGS EROS, Jon Christopherson, USGS EROS contractor

Host: John Hult

Release date: May 31, 2022

Episode 58 - Satellites and Cloud Computing

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Satellite imagery is everywhere. We see it on TV news and weather coverage, in our Twitter and Facebook feeds, and on our phones’ mapping apps. The data behind that imagery is nothing like a screenshot, though. It’s comprised of tiny packets of data, broken down from huge files and digitally manipulated to resemble the surface of the Earth, a swirling storm system or a map of urban growth. Cloud computing resources can make it easier to work with huge datasets that cover long periods of time, which is why many remote sensing scientists are using it for their analyses. On this episode of Eyes on Earth, we hear from a scientist who used the cloud for a 150-year water use modeling project, and from a data scientist working to help train others to use cloud resources.

Guests: Stefanie Kagone, contract remote sensing scientist, USGS EROS Center; Aaron Friesz, contract science coordination lead for NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC).

Host: John Hult

Release date: Sept. 7, 2021

Episode 54 – National Land Cover Database 2019

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

The National Land Cover Database, or NLCD, was the first and remains the most well-known set of satellite-based land cover mapping products released by EROS. It sorts the each 30-by-30-meter plot of land in the United States into a land cover class, such as cropland, pasture, high-intensity developed, deciduous forest, and the like. It also includes information on impervious urban surfaces, forest canopy cover and more. For this episode of Eyes on Earth, we hear about the latest release, NLCD 2019, the importance of land cover, and how mapping teams at EROS work together to produce accurate, reliable information.

Guest: Jon Dewitz, USGS National Land Cover Database manager

Host: John Hult

Release date: July 12, 2021

Episode 51 – LANDFIRE 2019 Limited

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The fire science community is always on the lookout for the freshest satellite-derived fire disturbance maps. Aiming to meet those needs, the multi-agency partnership known as LANDFIRE has just released an update that adds three new years of disturbances across the U.S. to its 20-plus layers of GIS data. LANDFIRE 2019 Limited is a step toward annual updates for the program, which is relied upon nationwide to guide land management and fire planning. On this episode, two LANDFIRE leaders talk about why they’re working to speed up new releases.

Guests: Henry Bastian, LANDFIRE Business Lead, Department of Interior, Frank Fay, LANDFIRE Business Lead, USDA Forest Service

Host: John Hult

Release date: June 1, 2021

Episode 45 – Harmonized Landsat Sentinel Data

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Landsat satellites have monitored the Earth’s surface for nearly 50 years, providing critical information for countless areas of study and real world applications. But with observations only collected every 8-16 days, there are limits to what can be tracked. On today’s episode of Eyes on Earth, we hear about a soon-to-be-released data product that merges Landsat with data from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellites, which will offer more opportunities to monitor rapid change. The harmonized Landsat-Sentinel data will be available through the Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC), located at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center.

Guest: Dr. Jeffrey Masek, NASA Landsat Project Scientist, Brian Freitag, NASA Research Physical Scientist

Host: John Hult

Release date: March 8, 2021

Episode 40 – Landsat Collection 2

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Landsat data is more useful today than at any other point in its nearly 50-year history. The USGS Collections strategy is a major reason why. Landsat Collections align and correct satellite acquisitions from 1972 through the present to make the data easier to work with through time. The USGS has now released Collection 2, an upgrade that improves geometric accuracy, improves interoperability with other satellite data sources, eases access to Landsat Level-2 science products, and makes Landsat data available in a cloud-friendly format for the first time. On this episode, we hear about what life was like for Landsat users before Collections, what it’s like now, and how Collection 2 will open doors for more innovative, expansive research.

Guest:  Dr. Chris Barnes, USGS contractor for the Landsat International Cooperator Network; Dr. Chris Barber, USGS research physical scientist with Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP)

Host: John Hult

Release date: December 14, 2020

Episode 38 – Time Series Analysis with Landsat

Sources/Usage: Public Domain. View Media Details

In the past, remote sensing scientists looked for change on the Earth’s surface primarily by comparing one Landsat image to another. Today, open access to Landsat data, high-performance and cloud computing capabilities and sophisticated algorithms can be used to scan the entirety of the archive for change, enabling researchers to learn more about how the landscape shifts over time. On this episode of Eyes on Earth, Landsat Science Team member Dr. Curtis Woodcock shares his thoughts on time series analysis, the future of remote sensing and his hopes for the Landsat program.

Guest:  Dr. Curtis Woodcock, Boston University

Host: Steve Young

Release date: November 16, 2020

Episode 34 – Open Training Data

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Today, the world is awash in remotely sensed data. Satellites launched by countries and commercial companies circle the planet collecting data every day. Accessing data from multiple agencies and platforms and turning it into useful analysis can be a daunting and complex endeavor, however. On today’s episode of Eyes on Earth, we hear from the founder of the non-profit Radiant Earth Foundation, which works to connect the global development community with the remote sensing data and machine learning tools it needs to tackle social, economic and environmental issues. One major initiative involves opening access to satellite-based training data, such as crop classifications, land cover and the like, and connecting users to cloud computing resources that help users search for trends and changes across space and time.

Guest: Anne Hale Miglarese, Founding CEO of Radiant Earth Foundation

Host: Steve Young

Release date: September 21, 2020

Episode 32 – Lunar Calibration

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Calibration teams at the USGS EROS Center use a variety of methods to make sure the data collected by Landsat satellites are an accurate representation of the Earth’s surface. They’re constantly comparing new imagery to old, tweaking algorithms to correct issues that might emerge, and using unchanging Earth surface sites and on-the-ground readings to check for consistency. Since the launch of Landsat 8, they’ve come to rely on another unchanging landscape to check for quality: the lunar surface. In this episode of Eyes on Earth, we hear how it’s done.

Guest: Cody Anderson, USGS EROS Cal-Val Center of Excellence Project Manager

Host: Tom Adamson

Release date: August 24, 2020

Episode 19 – 100 Million Landsat Downloads

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For decades, each Landsat image had a price tag – a hefty one at times ranging from 400 dollars to as much as 4,000 dollars. That all changed in 2008 with the enactment of an open data policy that made the entire Landsat archive available for download at no cost to the user. In this episode of Eyes on Earth, we talk with one of the architects of that policy, as well as an EROS data manager who saw the post-2008 spike in Landsat data use in real time. The 100 millionth Landsat scene was recently downloaded from the EROS archive, marking a major milestone for a policy shift that opened the door to previously impossible wide-scale research projects and generated billions of dollars in returns worldwide.

Guests: Barb Ryan, former Secretariat-Director for the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and former Associate Director of Geography for USGS; Kristi Kline, Project Manager for the Landsat Archive.

Host: Steve Young

Release date: March 13, 2020

Episode 16 – Predictive Modeling

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Land cover and land use across the United States are the culmination of a complex web of interwoven factors: Climate, landscape types, and economic factors among them. Remotely-sensed data from satellites like Landsat and a variety of other sources are useful for documenting and monitoring land cover and land use. When used alongside other data sources, however, remote sensing data can offer a glimpse at future land use under a range of scenarios.

Guests: Terry Sohl, Research Physical Scientist, EROS

Host: Steve Young

Release date: Feb. 10, 2020