Images

Fall foliage surrounds the 60-foot radome at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The radome protects the 10-meter Landsat antenna.

The USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center reception area fills with people for a 50^th anniversary event August 19, 2023.

Large floor puzzles of Sioux Falls and Denver help entertain guests during the 50^th anniversary event August 19, 2023.

Laura Nemec, a contractor at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, guides a tour group at the 50^th anniversary event August 19, 2023. In the background is a display showing the size of the Landsat 9 satellite.

While USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center Director Pete Doucette tells the audience a little about the 10^th anniversary festivities at EROS during the August 18, 2023, rededication ceremony, EROS Branch Chief for New Missions Kristi Kline holds up a 10^th anniversary poster from the time capsule and prepares to add a 50

This Landsat 9 natural color daytime image of Petermann Glacier, Greenland, shows the contrast between previous collection in the Arctic circle, which is taken during summer, and new Landsat Extended Acquisitions of the Poles (LEAP) imagery, which collects thermal images even during polar twil

The commemorative poster for the 50th anniversary celebration, in 2023, of the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in South Dakota.

On August 19, 2023, USGS Director David Applegate and USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center Director Pete Doucette use golden shovels that have been used at other EROS dedication events to help dedicate a red oak tree, a long-living species, that will be planted at EROS as a symbolic gesture to its future beyond 50 years.

This Landsat 8 image, acquired June 11, 2023, gives a view Hawaii's state capital Honolulu and the surrounding area along the eastern shoreline of O'ahu. Center in this image is the Daniel K.

This photo was taken at the satellite ground receiving station in Svalbard, Norway during Landsat Ground Station Operators Working Group 51st meeting. 

Visit this News page for more information about the meeting.

Infographic highlighting EROS numbers in 1975. Text reads: 



By the Numbers: EROS in 1975

Ben Reifel, a representative of South Dakota state, worked to get the USGS EROS facility in his state. 

The Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium is a group of federal agencies who coordinate and generate consistent and relevant land cover information at the national scale. Learn more here: https://www.mrlc.gov/.

A sagebrush plant photographed at a park in Boise, Idaho. Sagebrush landscapes cover a vast part of the western U.S. but are threatened by invasive grasses and a cycle of more frequent and more intense wildfires.

The USGS EROS Landsat Satellites Data System's (LSDS) Science Research and Development (LSRD) transforms Landsat data into value-added science, offering Landsat Science Products for advanced analysis of water, fire, and snow. 

The EROS Calibration/Validation (Cal/Val) Center of Excellence (ECCOE) compares Landsat and other remotely sensed data to known reference points on the ground to ensure consistency - a process called calibration and validation.

An exterior drone image of USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in summer 2023 near Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Map of the Conterminous U.S. showing the Land Cover layer from the NLCD 2021.

Learn more about NLCD at www.usgs.gov/centers/eros/science/national-land-cover-database

Exterior drone image of the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center near Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Pete Doucette was named Director of the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in March 2023. Listen to an Eyes on Earth podcast episode where he celebrates the past and talks about the future of EROS here.

Aaron Hensley, KBR contractor at the Earth Resources Observation and Science Center, monitors the computers in the ground station.