Eyes on Earth Episode 136 – The EROS Test Site
The same as the Landsat satellite, only smaller—that’s a fair description of the field spectrometer used at the EROS test site for validating Landsat’s accuracy.
Landsat has been accurate and reliable for over 50 years because of the diligent calibration and validation work done by the team at EROS. One of the ways the team validates what they have so carefully calibrated is to take measurements on the ground while Landsat passes by overhead. For this episode, we go out to the EROS test site during a Landsat pass to get a sense of what that work is like. Learn about the instruments used for this work and why it’s important to keeping Landsat as the gold standard for Earth observations.
Guests: Jeff Irwin, USGS EROS
Travis Kropuenske, KBR, contractor for USGS EROS
Host: Tom Adamson (contractor for USGS EROS)
Producer: Tom Adamson (contractor for USGS EROS)
Release date: Thursday, June 12, 2025
Download and Transcript Access
More about Calibration and Validation at EROS
- EROS CalVal Center of Excellence (ECCOE)
- ECCOE Test Sites Catalog
- Landsat Missions
- Landsat Acquisition Tool
- USGS Uncrewed Aircraft Team Visits USGS EROS
Related Episodes
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Eyes on Earth Episode 134 – Data Accuracy: The Calibration and Validation of Landsat
Landsat is the longest-running, continuously operating record of Earth observations, and it’s the gold standard reference point that other civil and commercial satellite programs trust. If a researcher is studying multiple Landsat images of the same spot on Earth, and there is something in those images that suggests a change, that researcher needs to have the confidence that that change is a real...
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Eyes on Earth 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 of Eyes on Earth, 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...
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Eyes on Earth Episode 32 - Lunar Calibration
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...
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The same as the Landsat satellite, only smaller—that’s a fair description of the field spectrometer used at the EROS test site for validating Landsat’s accuracy.
Landsat has been accurate and reliable for over 50 years because of the diligent calibration and validation work done by the team at EROS. One of the ways the team validates what they have so carefully calibrated is to take measurements on the ground while Landsat passes by overhead. For this episode, we go out to the EROS test site during a Landsat pass to get a sense of what that work is like. Learn about the instruments used for this work and why it’s important to keeping Landsat as the gold standard for Earth observations.
Guests: Jeff Irwin, USGS EROS
Travis Kropuenske, KBR, contractor for USGS EROS
Host: Tom Adamson (contractor for USGS EROS)
Producer: Tom Adamson (contractor for USGS EROS)
Release date: Thursday, June 12, 2025
Download and Transcript Access
More about Calibration and Validation at EROS
- EROS CalVal Center of Excellence (ECCOE)
- ECCOE Test Sites Catalog
- Landsat Missions
- Landsat Acquisition Tool
- USGS Uncrewed Aircraft Team Visits USGS EROS
Related Episodes
-
-
Eyes on Earth Episode 134 – Data Accuracy: The Calibration and Validation of Landsat
Landsat is the longest-running, continuously operating record of Earth observations, and it’s the gold standard reference point that other civil and commercial satellite programs trust. If a researcher is studying multiple Landsat images of the same spot on Earth, and there is something in those images that suggests a change, that researcher needs to have the confidence that that change is a real...
-
Eyes on Earth 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 of Eyes on Earth, 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...
-
Eyes on Earth Episode 32 - Lunar Calibration
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...
-