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What updates were made in Landsat Collection 2?

Landsat Collection 2 marks the second major reprocessing event of the USGS Landsat archive. Continuing the tiered collection management structure implemented in Landsat Collection 1, Landsat Collection 2 introduces several advancements in data processing, algorithm development, as well as data access and distribution capabilities, including:  

  • Improved per-pixel geodetic accuracy by incorporating updated Landsat 8 ground control points (GCP) harmonized with the Europe’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 Ground Reference Image (GRI). A global inventory of scene-based Level-2 data products (surface reflectance and surface temperature).

  • Updated digital elevation model sources for various global regions to support Level-1 processing. 

  • Data processing and distribution from USGS Cloud Hosting Solution (CHS) environment in Cloud Optimized GeoTIFF (COG) format.

  • Collection 2 incorporates consistent Level-1 and Level-2 pixel-based quality assessment bands as well as updated and consistent scene-based metadata files.

Learn more: Landsat Collection 2