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The Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 satellites together acquire approximately 1,500 scenes daily. These scenes are available for download within 6 hours of acquisition. Landsat satellite acquisitions are managed as a system, known as a satellite constellation. Long-Term Acquisition Plans (LTAPs) direct and optimize the daily acquisitions of each active Landsat satellite.
Special requests for future Landsat acquisitions can be submitted after reviewing the information provided on the Landsat Acquisitions webpage.
Landsat descending (daytime) acquisitions run from north to south; they cross the equator between 10:00 am and 10:25 am local time on each pass to provide maximum illumination. The acquisition start and stop times for each scene are listed in the metadata file that is included in the Landsat Level-1 product, and are also displayed on EarthExplorer and GloVis. Landsat data acquisition times are...
The Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 satellites orbit the Earth at an altitude of 705 kilometers (438 miles) in a 185 kilometer (115 miles) swath, moving from north to south over the sunlit side of the Earth in a sun synchronous orbit. Each satellite makes a complete orbit every 99 minutes, completes about 14 full orbits each day, and crosses every point on Earth once every 16 days. The satellite orbits...
Landsat scenes become available through EarthExplorer within 6 hours after acquisition and become visible in GloVis within 24 hours. See Landsat Acquisitions for acquisition calendars and information about daily schedules.
The sensors onboard each of the Landsat satellites were designed to acquire data in different wavelengths within the electromagnetic spectrum. View Bandpass Wavelengths for all Landsat Sensors The Multispectral Scanner (MSS) carried on Landsat 1,2,3,4 and 5 collected data in four ranges (bands); the Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor on Landsat 4 and Landsat 5 included those bands found on earlier...
The Spectral Characteristics Viewer is an interactive tool that can be used to visualize how the bands, or channels, of different satellite sensors measure the intensity of the many wavelengths (colors) of light. This is also known as the relative spectral response (RSR). By overlaying the spectral curves from different features (spectra), one can determine which bands of the selected sensor will...
Ascending (nighttime) WRS-2 path/row numbers are different from descending (daytime) path/rows. Cloud cover values for Landsat night scenes will always be -1. If you know the daytime path/row or coordinates and want to know the nighttime path/row, use the WRS-2 Path/Row to Latitude/Longitude Converter. Use EarthExplorer to search using path/row or coordinates: Access EarthExplorer. On the Search...
The Sentinel-2A MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) data has spectral bands very similar to Landsat 8 and 9 (excluding the thermal bands of Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS)). All Sentinel-2 data are freely available from the Copernicus Open Access Hub; therefore, users are encouraged to download the data via https://dataspace.copernicus.eu/explore-data/data-collections/sentinel-…. To learn...
Tom Loveland talks about using Landsat's data for land use and land cover change research.
Find this video and thousands more at https://usgs.gov/gallery.
Tom Loveland talks about using Landsat's data for land use and land cover change research.
Find this video and thousands more at https://usgs.gov/gallery.
Landsat 9 Project Scientist Jeff Masek discusses the ways Landsat data is used and how important it is to have high quality data.
Landsat 9 Project Scientist Jeff Masek discusses the ways Landsat data is used and how important it is to have high quality data.
Boston University Professor Curtis Woodcock talks about the significance Landsat was had in science and what he hopes to see as the mission continues.
Boston University Professor Curtis Woodcock talks about the significance Landsat was had in science and what he hopes to see as the mission continues.
Landsat Collections: Providing a Stable Environmental Record for Time Series Analysis
Landsat Collections: Providing a Stable Environmental Record for Time Series Analysis
This is the third video in a series describing the new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat Collection 1 inventory structure. Collection 1 required the reprocessing of all archived Landsat data to achieve radiometric and geometric consistency of Level-1 products through time and across all Landsat sensors.
This is the third video in a series describing the new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat Collection 1 inventory structure. Collection 1 required the reprocessing of all archived Landsat data to achieve radiometric and geometric consistency of Level-1 products through time and across all Landsat sensors.
Landsat Collections: Providing a Stable Environment Record for Time Series Analysis
Landsat Collections: Providing a Stable Environment Record for Time Series Analysis
The Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center has created a video animation describing how Landsat 8 orbits the Earth. The video explains the 16-day cycle for capturing imagery of the entire world.
The Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center has created a video animation describing how Landsat 8 orbits the Earth. The video explains the 16-day cycle for capturing imagery of the entire world.
Remotely sensed imagery of wildfires burning in the Siberia region of Russia shows the complementary possibilities of Landsat 8 and NASA's ASTER sensor aboard its Terra satellite.
Remotely sensed imagery of wildfires burning in the Siberia region of Russia shows the complementary possibilities of Landsat 8 and NASA's ASTER sensor aboard its Terra satellite.
Landsat descending (daytime) acquisitions run from north to south; they cross the equator between 10:00 am and 10:25 am local time on each pass to provide maximum illumination. The acquisition start and stop times for each scene are listed in the metadata file that is included in the Landsat Level-1 product, and are also displayed on EarthExplorer and GloVis. Landsat data acquisition times are...
The Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 satellites orbit the Earth at an altitude of 705 kilometers (438 miles) in a 185 kilometer (115 miles) swath, moving from north to south over the sunlit side of the Earth in a sun synchronous orbit. Each satellite makes a complete orbit every 99 minutes, completes about 14 full orbits each day, and crosses every point on Earth once every 16 days. The satellite orbits...
Landsat scenes become available through EarthExplorer within 6 hours after acquisition and become visible in GloVis within 24 hours. See Landsat Acquisitions for acquisition calendars and information about daily schedules.
The sensors onboard each of the Landsat satellites were designed to acquire data in different wavelengths within the electromagnetic spectrum. View Bandpass Wavelengths for all Landsat Sensors The Multispectral Scanner (MSS) carried on Landsat 1,2,3,4 and 5 collected data in four ranges (bands); the Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor on Landsat 4 and Landsat 5 included those bands found on earlier...
The Spectral Characteristics Viewer is an interactive tool that can be used to visualize how the bands, or channels, of different satellite sensors measure the intensity of the many wavelengths (colors) of light. This is also known as the relative spectral response (RSR). By overlaying the spectral curves from different features (spectra), one can determine which bands of the selected sensor will...
Ascending (nighttime) WRS-2 path/row numbers are different from descending (daytime) path/rows. Cloud cover values for Landsat night scenes will always be -1. If you know the daytime path/row or coordinates and want to know the nighttime path/row, use the WRS-2 Path/Row to Latitude/Longitude Converter. Use EarthExplorer to search using path/row or coordinates: Access EarthExplorer. On the Search...
The Sentinel-2A MultiSpectral Instrument (MSI) data has spectral bands very similar to Landsat 8 and 9 (excluding the thermal bands of Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS)). All Sentinel-2 data are freely available from the Copernicus Open Access Hub; therefore, users are encouraged to download the data via https://dataspace.copernicus.eu/explore-data/data-collections/sentinel-…. To learn...
Tom Loveland talks about using Landsat's data for land use and land cover change research.
Find this video and thousands more at https://usgs.gov/gallery.
Tom Loveland talks about using Landsat's data for land use and land cover change research.
Find this video and thousands more at https://usgs.gov/gallery.
Landsat 9 Project Scientist Jeff Masek discusses the ways Landsat data is used and how important it is to have high quality data.
Landsat 9 Project Scientist Jeff Masek discusses the ways Landsat data is used and how important it is to have high quality data.
Boston University Professor Curtis Woodcock talks about the significance Landsat was had in science and what he hopes to see as the mission continues.
Boston University Professor Curtis Woodcock talks about the significance Landsat was had in science and what he hopes to see as the mission continues.
Landsat Collections: Providing a Stable Environmental Record for Time Series Analysis
Landsat Collections: Providing a Stable Environmental Record for Time Series Analysis
This is the third video in a series describing the new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat Collection 1 inventory structure. Collection 1 required the reprocessing of all archived Landsat data to achieve radiometric and geometric consistency of Level-1 products through time and across all Landsat sensors.
This is the third video in a series describing the new U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Landsat Collection 1 inventory structure. Collection 1 required the reprocessing of all archived Landsat data to achieve radiometric and geometric consistency of Level-1 products through time and across all Landsat sensors.
Landsat Collections: Providing a Stable Environment Record for Time Series Analysis
Landsat Collections: Providing a Stable Environment Record for Time Series Analysis
The Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center has created a video animation describing how Landsat 8 orbits the Earth. The video explains the 16-day cycle for capturing imagery of the entire world.
The Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center has created a video animation describing how Landsat 8 orbits the Earth. The video explains the 16-day cycle for capturing imagery of the entire world.
Remotely sensed imagery of wildfires burning in the Siberia region of Russia shows the complementary possibilities of Landsat 8 and NASA's ASTER sensor aboard its Terra satellite.
Remotely sensed imagery of wildfires burning in the Siberia region of Russia shows the complementary possibilities of Landsat 8 and NASA's ASTER sensor aboard its Terra satellite.