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Landsat U.S. Analysis Ready Data

Landsat U.S. Analysis Ready Data (ARD) products are consistently processed to the highest scientific standards and level of processing required for direct use in monitoring and assessing landscape change. Landsat U.S. ARD significantly reduces the magnitude of data processing, removing the need to download and prepare large amounts of data for time-series investigative analysis.

Map showing additional number of U.S. ARD tiles in Collection 2 compared to Collection 1 from 1982 to 2021
This graphic shows additional tiles available for Collection 2 U.S. Analysis Ready Data (ARD) when compared to Collection 1 U.S. ARD for the same period (1982-2021). Click on the image to enlarge.

Landsat U.S. ARD became available after the release of Landsat Collection 1 in 2016, and serve as the foundation for the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) initiative. The December 2020 release of Landsat Collection 2 products allows for the processing of Landsat U.S. ARD products using Collection 2 inputs.

Landsat U.S. ARD are available for the conterminous United States (CONUS), Alaska and Hawaii using Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 Operational Land Imager/Thermal Infrared Sensor (OLI/TIRS), Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), and Landsat 4-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) data.   

Landsat 1-5 Multispectral Scanner (MSS) feasibility studies are ongoing and will be shared with the Landsat user community upon their completion.

Global Landsat ARD specifications are in development. Information will be provided when details are available.

References

Dwyer, J.L., Roy, D.P., Sauer, B., Jenkerson, C.B., Zhang, H., and Lymburner, L., 2018, Analysis ready data—Enabling analysis of the Landsat archive: Remote Sensing, v. 10, no. 9, art. no. 1363. doi.org/10.3390/rs10091363