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.
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How can I find the acquisition time for a Landsat scene?
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 exact acquisition start and stop times for each scene are listed in the metadata file that is included in the Landsat Level-1 product, and also displayed on EarthExplorer, GloVis and the LandsatLook Viewer. Landsat data...
What are the acquisition schedules for the Landsat satellites?
The Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 satellites orbit the Earth at an altitude of 705 kilometers (438 miles) in a 185-kilometer (115-mile) swath, moving from north to south over the sunlit side of the Earth in a sun synchronous orbit, following the Worldwide Reference System (WRS-2). Each satellite makes a complete orbit every 99 minutes, completes about 14 full orbits each day, and crosses every point on...
After a Landsat scene is collected, when will it become available for search and download?
Landsat scenes directly downlinked to the USGS EROS Landsat Ground Station become available through EarthExplorer within 6 hours after acquisition, and then become visible in GloVis and the LandsatLook Viewer within 24 hours. Scenes downlinked to other USGS Ground Stations can be available within 1 to 2 weeks. Scenes downlinked to International Ground Stations may become available in the USGS...
What are the band designations for the Landsat satellites?
The sensors aboard each of the Landsat satellites were designed to acquire data in different ranges of frequencies along 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 found on earlier...
What are the best Landsat spectral bands for use in my research?
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...
How do I search for and download ascending (nighttime) Landsat scenes?
Ascending (nighttime) WRS-2 Path/Row numbers are different from descending (daytime) Path/Rows. Cloud cover values for Landsat night scenes will always be zero. 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...
How does data from Sentinel-2A’s MultiSpectral Instrument compare to Landsat data?
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://scihub.copernicus.eu/. To learn more about Sentinel data access information please visit...
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- FAQ
How can I find the acquisition time for a Landsat scene?
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 exact acquisition start and stop times for each scene are listed in the metadata file that is included in the Landsat Level-1 product, and also displayed on EarthExplorer, GloVis and the LandsatLook Viewer. Landsat data...
What are the acquisition schedules for the Landsat satellites?
The Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 satellites orbit the Earth at an altitude of 705 kilometers (438 miles) in a 185-kilometer (115-mile) swath, moving from north to south over the sunlit side of the Earth in a sun synchronous orbit, following the Worldwide Reference System (WRS-2). Each satellite makes a complete orbit every 99 minutes, completes about 14 full orbits each day, and crosses every point on...
After a Landsat scene is collected, when will it become available for search and download?
Landsat scenes directly downlinked to the USGS EROS Landsat Ground Station become available through EarthExplorer within 6 hours after acquisition, and then become visible in GloVis and the LandsatLook Viewer within 24 hours. Scenes downlinked to other USGS Ground Stations can be available within 1 to 2 weeks. Scenes downlinked to International Ground Stations may become available in the USGS...
What are the band designations for the Landsat satellites?
The sensors aboard each of the Landsat satellites were designed to acquire data in different ranges of frequencies along 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 found on earlier...
What are the best Landsat spectral bands for use in my research?
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...
How do I search for and download ascending (nighttime) Landsat scenes?
Ascending (nighttime) WRS-2 Path/Row numbers are different from descending (daytime) Path/Rows. Cloud cover values for Landsat night scenes will always be zero. 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...
How does data from Sentinel-2A’s MultiSpectral Instrument compare to Landsat data?
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://scihub.copernicus.eu/. To learn more about Sentinel data access information please visit...
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U.S. Landsat Analysis Ready Data
U.S. Landsat Analysis Ready Data (ARD) are a revolutionary new U.S. Geological Survey science product that allows the Landsat archive to be more accessible and easier to analyze and reduces the amount of time users spend on data processing for monitoring and assessing landscape change. U.S. Landsat ARD are Level-2 products derived from Landsat Collections Level-1 precision and terrain-corrected scAuthorsLandsat Collections
In 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey reorganized the Landsat archive into a tiered collection structure, which ensures that Landsat Level-1 products provide a consistent archive of known data quality to support time-series analyses and data “stacking” while controlling continuous improvement of the archive and access to all data as they are acquired. Landsat Collection 1 required the reprocessing oAuthorsLandsat benefiting society for fifty years
Since 1972, data acquired by the Landsat series of satellites have become integral to land management for both government and the private sector, providing scientists and decision makers with key information about agricultural productivity, ice sheet dynamics, urban growth, forest monitoring, natural resource management, water quality, and supporting disaster response. Landsat 9 continues the missAuthorsLaura E. P. Rocchio, Peggy Connot, Steve Young, Kate Ramsayer, Linda Owen, Michelle Bouchard, Christopher Barnes - News