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Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center

At the USGS EROS Center, we study land change and produce land change data products used by researchers, resource managers, and policy makers across the nation and around the world. We also operate the Landsat satellite program with NASA, and maintain the largest civilian collection of images of the Earth’s land surface in existence, including tens of millions of satellite images.

News

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USGS New Supercomputer Helps Scientists Wrangle Data

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Inspired by EROS: See Unisphere Display at Sioux Falls Museum

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New Landsat 9 Cloud Cover Assessment Validation Dataset Published

Publications

Need and vision for global medium-resolution Landsat and Sentinel-2 data products

Global changes in climate and land use are threatening natural ecosystems, biodiversity, and the ecosystem services people rely on. This is why it is necessary to track and monitor spatiotemporal change at a level of detail that can inform science, management, and policy development. The current constellation of multiple Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites collecting imagery at predominantly ≤30-m s
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Volker C. Radeloff, David P. Roy, Mike Wulder, Martha Anderson, Bruce D. Cook, Christopher J. Crawford, Mark Friedl, Feng Gao, Noel Gorelick, Matthew Hansen, Sean Healey, Patrick Hostert, Glynn Hulley, Justin Huntington, Dave Johnson, Christopher Neigh, Alexei Lyapustin, Leo Lymburner, Nima Pahlevan, Jean-Francois Pekel, Theodore A. Scambos, Crystal Schaaf, Peter Strobl, Eric Vermote, Curtis Woodcock, Hankui K. Zhang, Zhe Zhu

Implementing a dual-spectrometer approach for improved surface reflectance estimation

Surface reflectance measurement is an integral part of the vicarious calibration of satellite sensors and the validation of satellite-derived top-of-atmosphere (TOA) and surface reflectance products. A well-known practice for estimating surface reflectance is to conduct a field campaign with a spectrometer and a calibration panel, which is labor-intensive and expensive. To address this issue, the
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Mahesh Shrestha, Joshua J. Mann, Emily Maddox, Terry J. Robbins, Jeffrey Irwin, Travis Kropuenske, Dennis Helder

System characterization report on the Pléiades Neo Imager

Executive SummaryThis report addresses system characterization of the Pléiades Neo satellite and is part of a series of system characterization reports produced and delivered by the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Cal/Val Center of Excellence. These reports present and detail the methodology and procedures for characterization; present technical and operational infor
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Simon J. Cantrell, Aparajithan Sampath, James C. Vrabel, Paul Bresnahan, Cody Anderson, Minsu Kim, Seonkyung Park

Science

Eyes on Earth Episode 109 – Fall 2023 EROS Poster Session

If you’ve never been to a scientific poster session, this episode will provide a taste of what it’s like.
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Eyes on Earth Episode 109 – Fall 2023 EROS Poster Session

If you’ve never been to a scientific poster session, this episode will provide a taste of what it’s like.
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Eyes on Earth Episode 108 – Landsat 8’s 100th Drag Make-Up Maneuver

The USGS EROS Landsat Flight Operations Team recently completed the 100th Drag Make-Up maneuver for Landsat 8.
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Eyes on Earth Episode 107 – EROS 50th: Land Cover, Part 2

The next step for two strong land cover products at USGS EROS is to combine them to create something even better.
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